Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil
by Starwin
Summary: Completed The Shadow of Evil covers everything as the Dark Lord presses the attack. Only just escaping with their lives Harry and Hermione find themselves on the mysterious island of Avalon. A dark future looms on the horizon. M for VLS
1. – Angels Wings

Summery:

The Shadow of Evil covers everything as the Dark Lord presses the attack. Only just escaping with their lives Harry and Hermione find themselves on the mysterious island of Avalon. But it isn't the end, it's only the beginning! RnR. M+ for Violence, sexuality and language in latter chapters.

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Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

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Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

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Chapter 1 – Angels Wings

It was a warm night in Little Whinging. A boy of 15 with dark, wild black hair and shockingly green eyes was laying on his back watching stars out his window in the smallest bedroom at number 4 Privet Drive. Wondering what it was like to be just another, normal boy. After all he went to school, did homework, had friends and of course fought evil wizards intent on killing him and destroying the world.

Harry shifted in his bed looking away from the sky. His thoughts falling to his friends, Ron and Hermione. Right now he would give anything to see ether of them. And at the same time he felt that if they were here, he wouldn't want to see them at all.

Hermione had invited both Ron and himself to come stay with her this summer, a change from usually staying at Ron's. Harry hadn't replied yet. In fact Harry hadn't done much of anything since summer started.

He felt his face sadden as the events that had transpired only a few months ago in the Ministry of Magic flickered through his head. He thought of Sirius, his mind drew a blank and he could feel his heart sink. It was all he could do to keep from crying but he didn't feel sadness, he felt anger, he felt rage, he felt powerful blinding hate.

'Dumbledore, this was his fault,' Harry thought. 'Everything was Dumbledore's fault. If it hadn't been for him…' Harry let his eye lids draw closed. As the blackness of sleep crept inwards threatening to take him under its nightmarish seduction. The same dream filled his head night after night. The hallway, not the one from the Ministry of Magic, this was a hallway from the school that Harry attended, Hogwarts.

He had largely tried to ignore these dreams but the last hallway he had been led down came at the price of Sirius' life. He tried every night to clear his mind, to use the Occlumancy he had practiced with Snape. But even with a clear mind it didn't seem to matter how much he fought it, the moment he fell asleep the nightmares came. Sometimes he would find happy memories but more often he stumbled upon tormented nightmares. A few days ago Harry had awoken in a cold sweat after recalling the life and death battle with the Basalisk.

More often the dreams were trivial things, but much to his horror, most involved Malfoy or Snape. However when Harry awoke most of the dreams faded as quickly as they had come. But one dream always stood out in Harry's mind and tonight he would fall into that dream.

---

Hermione, Ron and Harry were at Hogwarts, in the out of bounds third-floor corridor on the right-hand side. They were under the invisibility cloak, but Harry knew it didn't matter. Snape knew they were there, he knew they were trying to get through the locked door at the end of the hall. Every time they got close to the door Snape caught them and gave them detention and took 50 points each from Gryffindor. Perhaps this time they could just push him aside and throw open the door.

But like all the other dreams, Snape caught them again and as Harry tried to force his way past Snape his friends held him back.

"It's not worth it, Harry!" Ron shouted while Hermione helped dragged him backwards as Snape yelled at them to stop coming back.

---

A thud outside the house awoke Harry. The dream faded as it always did and becoming just one more thing that nagged at him. He looked out the window to see a man standing on the walkway below, he was looking up through Harry's window right into Harry's eyes. Harry's hand flashed to his wand. The man was obviously a wizard, dressed in a white cloak. Harry was sure he had never seen him before.

After glaring at Harry's window for a longtime the man approached the house and Harry heard a loud knock on the door from downstairs. Harry glanced at his the bright glowing, red letters of his clock read that 11PM. The Dursley's were most likely asleep by now. They would probably yell at him for this, even though he had nothing to do with it but he no longer cared. The knocking came again, louder this time. Harry could hear his Uncle Vernon roar from his room down the hall.

"Just a minute, just a minute." Footsteps rushed past Harry's door and down the stairs. Harry crept to his door and pressed his ear against it, desperate to hear what was going on below. Harry wanted so badly to leave his room to see what was happening for himself. But the Dursley locked him in every night with several locks and short of magicing them open, Harry had no way to leave his room.

Then Harry heard a strange sound, a sort of clicking and to his surprise, his door opened a crack. There was no one outside. Harry began to panic, had he just used magic and not known about it? He could feel his heartbeat quicken. Pushing the door open, Harry walked quietly out into the hall and towards the stairs.

Mr. Dursley reached the door just as Harry reached the top of the stairs.

"What's the idea knocking so late at…" Mr. Dursley started to say as he pulled the door open.

Dursley froze for a second.

"What in the hell do you want!" Dursley asked weakly.

"I am here to see Mr. Harry Potter," a voice said, the voice sounded horse, like it hadn't used it in a long time. "May I come in?"

"Most certainly not!" Mr. Dursley fumed. "I have told that boy to keep his freak friends away from this house!" With that he moved to throw the door shut. A hand shot out and caught the door before it could move an inch. A shimmering blue-silver glow clad the man's arm and Harry thought that it was some kind of metal, armor maybe. It glowed in the dim porch light as though it was reflecting of sunlight.

"I am afraid I must insist." The man said stepping past Mr. Dursley and into the house. Harry readied his wand. The stranger stopped when he saw Harry had his wand pointed at him.

"Now see here!" Mr. Dursley sputtered. The man turned his head slowly towards Mr. Dursley and for a moment Harry could have sworn that the stranger's eyes pulsed with a fierce white light. The door suddenly slammed shut behind him.

The stranger turned back to Harry who standing in his pajamas with wand still pointed down the stairs.

"And you must be Mr. Harry Potter," the stranger in the white cloak said. "I am here at the request of Dumbledore. I have been sent to protect you." Harry stood still for a moment then, wand at the ready, he descended slowly, one step at a time.

"Are you in the Order?" Harry asked.

"No," the man said. His tone was unreadable. The stranger's eyes were fixed on Harry's wand.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Harry asked. The stranger slowly reached under his cloak, which Harry noticed, now that he was closer, was made completely from what looked like bird feathers. The stranger produced a scroll of parchment and tossed it to Harry. On the front of the rolled parchment was a strange seal.

Clasping the scroll awkwardly Harry tired to pull the parchment open, but he could not.

"How do I open this?" Harry asked.

"It is protected by a WizzieSeal." The stranger said. "It can only be opened by the person it is intended to go to." Harry turned the parchment around in his hands. He found Dumbledore's name on it, but he did not see his own.

"But this only has Dumbledore's name on it and nothing else." Harry said looking up from the scroll of paper in his hands. The stranger suddenly slammed an open palm against the wall. Mr. Dursley had been quietly edging along the wall trying to get away.

"Stay please." The stranger said not turning to look at Mr. Dursley.

"Mr. Harry Potter ask the letter who it is for." Harry looked puzzled for a moment.

"Who is this letter for?" Harry asked. Dumbledore's name on the front suddenly began to scramble about and became new a name: "Harry Potter." Then the seal burned away and the parchment unfurled in Harry's hands. The message was short:

_Dear Harry,_

_You life is in danger. You can trust Solaris, he will protect you._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry looked up from the letter and felt his temper rise. Harry waited for the stranger to explain himself but the stranger just stood there. Harry wasn't sure he trusted him or Dumbledore. After all Dumbledore had lied to him.

"I don't need your protection," Harry yelled, balling up the letter and throwing it back at the stranger. The wad of paper hit him in the chest and bounced off onto the floor. The stranger looked at Mr. Dursley again and said.

"I will remain here." Mr. Dursley's jaw dropped open.

"Remain? Here? Absolutely not!" The stranger's eyes seemed to narrow as Mr. Dursley's face became more distraught. A year ago an encounter like this might have brought a smile to Harry's face, but now all Harry could feel was anger. He was angry at the stranger for assuming that he, Harry, needed protection. He was angry at his Uncle for being the worthless muggle that he was and most of all he was angry at Dumbledore because all of this was Dumbledore's fault!

"Fine!" Harry shouted, his anger flooding through. "Stay, go, I don't care, just leave me alone!" Harry stormed off to his room leaving his Uncle and the stranger in the downstairs' hallway.

---

That night Shadows closed around Harry's dreams again. The Dark Lord, Voldemort, loomed over Harry. They were in the graveyard where he had watched Cedric die.

"Not just Cedric!" Voldemort shouted, "but Black too! And also…" Ron appeared, it looked as though his leg had been broken. He was trying to crawl away. "_Avada Kedavra_!" Voldemort shouted, and Ron's body went limp.

"No!" Harry roared. He couldn't move. Something was holding him back. It was man in a white cloak with the face of a bird.

"Yesss Mr. Potter," Voldemort hissed. He began to change and shifting into Professor Snape, "and of course we can not forget Miss Weasley.." Ginny appeared at Harry's feet naked, blood smeared all over her body. Her eyes filled with tears, she looked up at him "help me Harry! Help me!"

Snape lifted his wand and shouted "_Avada Kedavra_!" A green bolt of light raced towards Ginny, without thinking Harry leapt forward into the green light. The hand of the stranger reached and grabbed him but he struggled free. As he felt the light surge through his body, Harry heard his mother scream.

---

Harry awoke in cold sweat, he sat up. The dream was fading quickly and his scar − his scar − was on fire. Harry suddenly became aware of someone else in his room. Leaning against the wall next to the door was the stranger in the white cloak.

"What the fuck are you doing in here!" Harry asked angry.

"Bad dreams…?" Solaris asked. Harry was still angry and didn't answer.

"You are not the only one who sees visions," Solaris said as he turned to leave. "Let us both hope we are wrong and our dreams reflect our fears, not things to come." Solaris opened the door and left.

Harry rubbed his scar. Finally the pain was subsiding.

Had it all been a dream? Or had it been an attempt by Voldemort to trick him again, or maybe it really was vision. Harry didn't know and right now he didn't care.

Shouting came from downstairs. Harry could hear a few loud shrieks from his Aunt Petunia. "I won't have that thing in my house." There was more but Harry tuned it out. He looked at Hedwig's empty cage. Last night he had written a letter before he had gone to bed telling Hermione that he would be there as soon as he could.

He threw on some clothes, shoved his wand into his pocket and headed downstairs He wanted nothing more then to get the fuck away from these people.

Stepping outside was the most wonderful feeling, the feeling of freedom. He pulled the door closed and looked around.

Harry walked down the street. Gradually he became aware of footsteps next to him. Harry turned to see who it was and next to him was a ghost. Harry stumbled backwards into the street, causing a passing motorist to honk her horn and swerve around him. It took Harry a moment to realize it was Solaris, because Solaris half translucent.

Solaris had white shimmering hair, almost silver in nature. He had cutting blue eyes, like the sky. His nose was strong and his face, powerful. Under the cloak the man must have been built with a lot of muscle. His shoulders were broad and he was only just taller than Harry.

Solaris was looking at Harry in mild surprise. "Can you see me?" he asked in almost a whisper.

"Yes. What are you?" Harry began.

"You are indeed a great wizard to have noticed me." Solaris became fully solid.

"Why we're you following me?" Harry asked angrily. "I told you to keep away from me."

"You will not notice me next time."

"There won't be a next time," Harry hissed. "I want you to leave me alone, I don't need your protection!" A passerby on the other side of the street looked at Harry as though Harry was crazy. "What?" Harry yelled. The passerby walked faster and didn't say anything. When Harry looked back Solaris had gone. "Good riddance." Harry said and he continued walking, with no destination in mind and the uneasy feeling that he was still being followed.

---

It was starting to get dark and Harry knew he should head home, but the whispering in his head told him to otherwise. The whispering had become louder and more insistent since the end of term. 'Stay out,' it whispered to him 'have fun, it doesn't matter what they think. You are you're own Wizard. You have proven you can take care of yourself.'

Harry's scar was starting to burn again, he rubbed it with his palm. Voldemort must be doing something, something that brought him great happiness.

Harry suddenly felt cold, like the joy had been sucked out of him. He knew this feeling all too well… 'dementors.' Harry pulled his wand out and suddenly there was a woosh of air against his back. Harry spun around and his eyes went wide. Standing behind him was Solaris with his cloak spread open into four shimmering white wings that arched around the two of them. A warming light radiated out from his armor like it was made from parts of the sun.

The dementors continued to move closer.

"_Aspecto Patreeum_!" Solaris shouted from behind Harry and for an instant the cold draining effect of the dementors seemed to be taken away. The light that shined from Solaris' armor glowed even brighter and the dementors advance slowed.

Then as quickly as the burst of light had come, it faded and the coldness returned. The light bubble from the armor remained and the dementors stayed at its edge afraid to come into the light. It was all Harry needed though, that extra moment!

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Harry shouted and a white stag erupted from the tip of his wand. The dementors began to flee as it chased them away, but Harry noticed that three of them did not retreat. In fact quite the opposite happened. The dementors walked towards Harry and Solaris. Harry knew why they hadn't fled, they weren't dementors, they were Death Eaters.

---

"A Seraphim," one of the Death Eaters hissed. "Most unexpected of Dumbledore, but he is a fool none the less." The Death Eater raised its wand to attack. "_Avada Kedavra_!" it shouted as a green light erupted from its wand. Harry was ready to jump out of the way when a arm wrapped around his waist and a great white wing shielded him from the blast. Nothing happened. The wing moved away revealing a surprised group of Death Eaters.

"You know that I am a Seraphim." Solaris said calmly, "yet you are surprised that your magic has no effect against me. Wizards are such fools, indeed." Solaris held out his free hand closing it into a fist. A blinding white light flashed and the long steel blade of a sword appeared in his hand. The metal glowed like the sun.

"Wizards, you face now your deaths!" In a quick movement Solaris darted across the bubble of light, his blade moving faster than anything Harry had ever seen. The Death Eaters scrambled to get clear but one did not move fast enough. A spray of blood arched into the air and his screams pierced the night.

Another Death Eater launched a spell at Harry.

"_Protego!_" Harry countered, summoning a shield to deflect the spell.

"_Exspelliarmus_!" Harry yelled pointing his wand at the Death Eater that had attacked him. The Death Eater's wand flew from its hand into the night sky. Pressing his attack Harry shouted "_Reco Moro!_" An orangeish bolt shot from the end of Harry's wand. The spell hit the Death Eater in its chest and sent it flying across the street where it collided with the dustbins.

Harry was just about to start on another Death Eater when Solaris' arm wrapped around his waist once more and before Harry could protest they were airborne. They landed on a rooftop a few blocks away. Solaris released Harry.

A drop of something red hit Harry's glasses. He pulled his glasses off and the world became a blur. He ran his hand along his forehead, feeling blood, but there was no cut. He wiped his glasses and put them back on and turned to see a great wound in Solaris shoulder. Solaris let out a great exhale of air.

Harry saw Solaris in full for the first time. His wings were slumped down and open. Against his body was a bluish armor lined with silver. A deep wound cut into his shoulder and his left hand was stained with blood. The sword he had used was stuck firmly into the roof of the house.

Solaris was about to say something but his words were lost in the sound of wizards apparating only a few feet from them.

"And still you refuse to die," said a cold voice. "_Avada Kedavra_!" Solaris moved quickly and his wing blocked. As he did Harry noticed that the wound glowed green for a moment and more blood bubbled out. Solaris let out a cough, spitting blood.

"I think it is time we finish this," said another voice Harry did not recognize. He heard foot steps coming closer beyond the shielding wing. Solaris eyes were closed and the glow that his armor once possessed seemed to have faded away. The foot steps stopped. Suddenly Solaris roared awake seizing the nearest Death Eater and hurling him into the rest. The startled Death Eaters toppled backwards.

"What how can he still be alive?"

The air was suddenly filled with more popping sounds and voice shouted "_Stupefy_!" Wings wrapped down around Harry again. More popping sounds of wizards dissapparating. When the sounds had all but stopped Solaris pulled his wings back to reveal a group of wizards standing on the roof top. Arthur Weasley was up front.

"Harry!" He cried moving towards him at a run and then slowing to a stop as Solaris rose behind Harry. Wands of all the wizards suddenly came to bare. "Oh my." Mr. Weasly said.

"What are you doing here Seraphim?" A high pitched voice asked from one of the wizards. A some what lean built witch walked forward wand pointed at Solaris "Speak up I am Director Mersal, second to the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, you are in violation of the law against Seraphim being in a Muggle populated area, interacting with an underage wizard and carrying," the woman's eyes swiveled to the sword stuck in the roof. "A weapon that has been classified illegal within any realm but your own."

"Harry, come here." Mr. Weasley said. But Harry didn't move. He suddenly felt that by standing in front of Solaris he was protecting him, keeping the wizards from firing curses at him, from killing him. Something wasn't right here. Harry wasn't sure what it was but...

"No." Harry said firmly. "Solaris save me, if it wasn't for him I would be dead." None of the wizards lowered their wands. Harry felt Solaris' hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"Harry, he is a Seraphim, a destroyer of magic." Mr. Weasley said. "They are dangerous." Still Harry did not move.

"I ask again." Mersal's voice said over the tension. "Why are you here Seraphim?"

"I don't answer to any Wizard." Solaris spat the words. "Your kind thinks that you are almighty and because you can use ancient magic you can dictate how the world works. A world that is much older then you, with beings that are much older then you. You are no different from Muggles who try to control the world with science. I will not yield to you. I am here to protect Mr. Harry Potter." The tension was still thick. No one moved.

'Tell them,' the voice in Harry's head whispered. His scar began to burn, 'tell them who sent him and they will understand.' Harry's lips began to form the words to shout but another voice chimed in.

'No!' The second voice said, 'if he wanted them to know that Dumbledore had sent him he would have told them!' Harry's scar burned even worse. His thoughts were becoming jumbled. It was like seeing the world without his glasses.

"Albus Dumbledore sent him!" Harry said as he swayed feeling dizzy, he didn't know what was going on. As the words finished he felt Solaris's grip on his shoulder lessen some, but not release. His scar stopped burning. And as though Harry had conjured him up Albus Dumbledore apparated just behind the crowd of wizards, all standing on the roof top.

---

"That I did." Dumbledore said in a slow, kind voice. "This was a much needed step to ensure Harry's safety." Dumbledore's eyes meet with Harry's and his scar erupted in pain. The look in Dumbledore's eyes frightened Harry. A fear he had never felt before.

"Are the others safe Arthur?" Dumbledore asked addressing Arthur Weasley. For a moment Mr. Weasley seemed confused then answered as though only just remembering.

"Oh, oh yes, Ron has been moved some place safe, we were going to head to Miss Grangers next."

"Very well then, let us move out of the cold." Dumbledore said breaking eye contact with Harry. Dumbledore snapped his fingers, the world shifted. The rooftops vanished and the group of wizards, Harry, Solaris and Dumbledore all stood outside of Harry's Aunt and Uncle's house. Harry's scar began to burn again. It was as if a knife was being pushed into his head. He could barely stumble to the front door and open it.

In his pain Harry couldn't understand what he was doing, why he was opening the door, walking inside. Every fiber of his body struggled against it. Harry collapsed to his knees in the hall.

"What's wrong?" Solaris asked as he shook Harry, concern in his voice. Dumbledore had stopped at the doorway.

"Aren't you going to invite us in, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Won't you come…" Harry began.

"No!" Solaris shouted and for a moment the same warm light that had filled the street, filled the room. The burning in the scar dimmed and Harry could hear the voice whispering to him in a shout now.

'INVITE ME IN HARRY, INVITE ME INTO YOUR HOME!' The voice roared.

"NO!" Harry shouted aloud and to the voice in his head. "No you can't come in!" Harry shouted. Dumbledore's eyes narrowed and his voice changed.

"Invite me in Harry, invite me into your home!" Dumbledore hissed.

"What's all this now!" Uncle Vernon roared coming down the stairs.

"No!" Harry and Solaris shouted at the same time.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" Dumbledore roared. The green light flew across the room and hit Mr. Dursley in the chest. His body fell limp and he rolled down the last few stairs. Solaris moved Harry quickly around the corner and out of range as spells began to fill the hallway.

'Invite me in Harry, invite me into your home!' The voice continued to chant.

"Harry you have to use a spell to get us out." Solaris said. "My magic won't work here." Harry leaned limply against the wall, he felt drained of energy.

"I," he stammered. "I have to invite Dumbledore in or I'll be expelled."

"NO!" Solaris shouted. "Do not invite him in! He is not Dumbledore!"

"I have to…" Harry gasped.

---

'Why do you have to?' A calm voice asked him, it was Hermione. The chaos seemed to dissolve around him and the sounds faded. "It doesn't seem reasonable to me." Harry blinked. He was sitting in potions class. Snape was pointing at him telling him to drink the vial of poison that he, Harry, had just brewed. It was half way to his lips. Hermione and Ron's hands were on his arm. Holding him back.

"Drink it Mr. Potter, drink it or you will be expelled from Hogwarts!" Snape hissed.

"No," Ron said in the same calming voice. "He can't expel you, only McGonagall can! And she wouldn't kick you out even if you Kissed her, well maybe if _you_ kissed her." Ron Laughed.

"Ron's right you know." Hermione said brightly. "Snape is just a slug after all." Harry looked back at Snape who had begun to grow feelers and turn green. "Come on Harry, you are stronger than this." Hermione said, but it wasn't just her, it was Ron too and Hagrid and Neville and Luna and Ginny.

"I, I," Harry stammered. "I am!" Harry shouted the dream like world blurring away back to the living room of the house in Little Whinging.

"I'm glad you are, now get us out of here!" Solaris shouted shaking Harry. Harry turned and pointed his wand at the wall.

"_Melsolus_!" he shouted and the wall broke apart plaster flying everywhere. Solaris' arm flew around Harry's waist and in two quick steps they were out side and high up in the clouds. As Harry looked down he could see the green glowing skull of the dark mark rise above his house.

---

The air was cold as the two soared above the clouds. Harry felt a shiver run down his spine but he wasn't sure if it was from the cold. He had just watched his uncle Vernon murdered by Lord Voldemort and though he didn't like the Dursley he would never had wished something like this on them.

'Or would you?' The voice in his head whispered. A resounding NO echoed and the first voice became silent.

"Ron," Harry murmured. "Hermione!" He said looking up at Solaris. "We have to go see if they're okay!" Solaris let out a sigh. "What?" Harry asked feeling himself becoming angry again.

"It may be another trap." Solaris replied darkly.

"I don't care!" Harry shouted. "My friends need my help!" Solaris took in another deep breath as though trying to decide but finally…

"_Fenindo_!" Solaris said. An orb of white light appeared out in front of them. "Speak clearly the name of the person you wish to find." Solaris said as he came to a hover in front of the orb.

"Ron Weasley." Harry said to the orb. The light flickered for a moment, moved and inch or so to the left then blinked out. The darkness of the night sky became more apparent to Harry as the light vanished and the stars suddenly emerged. "What happened?" Harry asked after a moment.

"The seeking orb could not locate that person." Solaris said in a dulled voice.

"What exactly does that mean?" Harry shouted back at Solaris in frustration.

"It could mean many things, the person is out of the range of the spell or their magical presence is being masked or…" Solaris didn't finish but Harry didn't need him to.

"Or they're dead." Harry said a lump gathering in his throat.

"Yes, the seeking orb cannot find those who are dead." Solaris said. "But it is just one of many possibilities." Solaris added quickly trying to give Harry encouragement. "We must still try and find your other friend. _Fenindo_!" Solaris said again and once more the orb illuminated the night sky dimming out the stars.

"Hermione Granger." Harry said in a shaking voice. Again the orb waned and seemed to fade but then it glowed bright and began to move very quickly away from them. With incredible agility and speed Solaris changed direction and followed. Harry couldn't even feel the beat of his wings only the cold air that brushed against his exposed skin.

"It wasn't Dumbledore you know," Solaris said suddenly as they soared along just above the clouds, they had begun to descend.

"I know, "Harry said, but he still felt betrayed and angry.

"The other wizards were most likely under being manipulated too." Solaris continued. But Harry didn't answer this time and Solaris said nothing further.

They had passed under the clouds and the orb of light had suddenly turned strait down and dropped the thousand feet to ground level in an instant. Solaris did almost the same but stopped just above the ground coming to a soft landing that Harry could not even feel. The orb floated into a second story window of the house directly in front of them and then went out.

The house they stood at was two stories tall and had a little white fence around it. Small bushes lined up neatly under the windows. Green grass lay between the fence and the front of the house. Harry moved up to the gate and pressed the latch to open it, as he did a light, in the window where the orb had gone, flickered on and the face of his friend, Hermione appeared in it. Her eyes went wide and she dashed away from the window. Harry walked slowly down the cement path towards the door, but long before he got there it flew open and Hermione, still in her nightgown ran out to throw her arms around Harry.

"Oh Harry!" She cried. "I was so worried about you! You didn't sound at all like yourself in your letter!" Hermione pulled back. "Harry what's wrong?" She asked. It was than Harry realized that he had tears rolling down his face. He lifted a sleeve and wiped them away.

"I think Ron's in trouble." Harry said completely skipping over all the events of the night so far.

"Oh no! Oh Harry what happened? Why…" Hermione suddenly stopped her eyes becoming focused over Harry's shoulder. "Harry look out!" She cried. "It's a Seraphim!" Harry looked back to see Solaris standing a fair distance behind him still out side the gate and semi-transparent.

"It's alright Hermione, he's a friend." Harry said. Hermione's eyes went if possible wider. "Look I don't have time to explain, we have to go, now!" Harry said suddenly becoming angry again.

"Okay, okay." Hermione said running a hand through her hair absently. "One second" she said. And she raced off back into the house. A moment later she appeared again. She had quickly pulled on some pants and thrown a jacket over her nightgown. She tossed an extra jacket to Harry. "I expect we are flying and that it will be cold." She said. Harry grinned, she never ceased to amaze him.

"Let's go Solaris." Harry said, Solaris nodded and wrapped his two powerful arms around Harry and Hermione's waists. Hermione let out a shriek as with a quick rush of air, Solaris leapt skyward and they were above the clouds in almost an instant, much faster than any broom Harry had ever flown on.

"How will we find your friend though?" Solaris asked. Hermione smiled.

"That's the easy part she said, _Fenindo_!" A bright orb of light lit up the sky for the third time tonight, but this orb seemed much brighter then the last time it had been cast. "Ronald Weasley." Hermione said to it, the orb dimmed a bit.

"We already tired…" Harry began but suddenly the orb rushed off strait away from them. "Hermione you're bloody brilliant has anyone ever told you that?" Hermione smiled.

Wind rushed past and Harry could feel all four of Solaris's wings beat hard, they were moving much faster this time. Harry could now feel every beat of the Seraphim's wings, it was uncomfortable. Solaris seemed to be squeezing harder too and the flight didn't feel as smooth but before Harry could mention it they were descending to the Burrow.

---

There was no light coming from the house. Not surprising at this time of night but Harry already felt that something was wrong. He rushed inside, Hermione following close behind and Solaris close behind her.

Harry stopped suddenly as he saw the inside of the house. Tables had been over turned. The clock that told where the Weasley's were had been smashed and it lay broken the floor. Dishes had been tossed about. The house had been torn apart. And then Harry's heart stopped, lying there on the floor near the bottom of the stairs was Ginny, face down in a pool of blood. Harry ran over to her and put his hand on the back of her neck, it was ice cold. The dream he had had this morning came rushing back.

A scream erupted from up stairs.

"Come on!" Harry shouted to Hermione and they dashed up the stairs.

"Wait!" Solaris shouted after them.

"Stay there and make sure nothing nasty follows us!" Harry shouted back as his feet pounded the steps and the scar on his head seared with pain.

The scream came again, from Ron's room. In one great movement Harry's foot collided with the door and it swung violently inwards crashing into the wall.

There on the edge of his bed sat Ron, his leg broken and clothing splattered in blood. And standing in front of him was Lord Voldemort eyes black and lidless like a snake's.

"Ah Harry, Harry, Harry." He smiled for a moment then it vanished to be replaced by a look of pure hate. Popping noises erupted and Death Eaters filled the room. One grabbed Harry's wrist, another yanked a chunk of his hair. Hermione let out a scream, Harry managed to turn his head just enough to see arms of Death Eaters warping around her like snakes. "Well we seem to be at the end Harry." Voldemort said in his hissing like voice. "Tonight is not only the night you die, but that everyone you care about dies." He pointed his wand at Ron.

"NO" Harry shouted, struggling to get free.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" Voldemort shouted, a green light erupting from his wand striking Ron in the chest. Ron's body slumped back against his wall not even having time to cry out, his eyes rolling back in their sockets and Ron was dead. "And now Harry, you, will beg me to kill you." The voice in his head began to echo again.

'Beg him to kill me, beg him!' The voice said.

"No!" Harry shouted again. "I won't beg."

"Yessss" Voldemort hissed, "you will beg or I will let you watch your other friend suffer a fate much worse than death." He pointed his wand at Hermione. "_Crusio_" Voldemort hissed. The arms of the Death Eaters held her body tight as she began to convulse in their arms.

"Stop it!" Harry shouted and to Harry's surprise Voldemort lifted his wand and Hermione stopped twitching, tears rolled down her face as she sobbed silently.

"Are you ready to beg for your death than Harry?" Voldemort hissed moving uncomfortably close to Harry's face and lifting a pale white boney finger to run it along Harry's scar. "Your scar can't protect you." Voldemort pulled Harry's wand from his hand, "your wand can't protect you." He pointed Harry's wand at Hermione, "Your friends can't protect you! _Avada Ke_…" Voldemort began but was cut off by the head of one of the Death Eaters rolling into the room. The other Death Eaters panicked and popping noises signaled their dissaparations. "Where are you going you fools!" Voldemort shouted as his Death Eaters fled. "You will still die!" He said pointing his wand again at Hermione. "_Avada Kedavra_!" He shouted. The green light flew across the room. Harry watched as though in slow motion as the light passed by his head. He could hear a cry escaping his throat telling Hermione to move. But she just stood there as the light raced towards her.

Hermione looked down as the green bolt moved to impact with her chest but the instant before it did a white shield of feathers raced to block. As the green impacted the feathers it turned them gray, a few peeled away. A thud echoed behind Hermione as Solaris collapsed to the floor. Harry's elbow swung back hard in a rage, striking the Death Eater holding him in the ribs. The man collapsed to the ground and Harry now free rushed Voldemort, one hand wrapping around Voldemort's throat the other around his wand. With all his strength Harry forced his wand down to point at Voldemort's head.

"_Avada_.." Harry hissed. Voldemort's eyes suddenly went wide with fear. "_Ked_.." Harry struggled but before he could speak the last of the spell Voldemort vanished with a pop. Harry fell to the floor. He felt hands on his back and someone speaking words into his ear.

"Harry! Harry! Are you alright?" Hermione was yelling. Harry propped himself up and before he could say anything Hermione embraced him in a crushing hug.

"Ron" Harry gasped.

"Harry, Ron, he's… he's" Hermione stammered.

"An illusion." Grunted Solaris from the doorway. He had pulled himself up the frame of the door and was resting hard against it. Harry could see a red stream running down the door. "So is the girl down stairs. This was just a trap to lure you here." Solaris said heavily it sounded like he was having trouble breathing. Hermione let go of Harry as he stood and walked over to a very real looking dead Ron. He extended a hand and touched the ice cold body.

"He doesn't feel like and illusion." Harry said angrily as his hand dipped into the pool of blood. But when Harry pulled his hand away from Ron the blood seemingly vanished. When he moved his hand back towards Ron the blood seemed to reappear.

"We have to get out of here." Solaris said. Hermione was already up her wand out.

"_Feletus Mobulos_." She said and Solaris seemed to float as though resting against an invisible crutch. "Come on Harry we need to get out of here!" Hermione cried looking back at Harry. Harry began to walk towards the door but stopped as he noticed suddenly an arm waving at him from behind the door. Harry moved the door and there against the wall was a life sized picture of Ron waving franticly at him. Ron's face suddenly became very urgent and he pointed to the right of him. Harry looked to where Ron was pointing to see a shinny blue mirror that had been hung on the wall in haste. Harry grabbed it, he knew instantly what it was, Sirius had given him one to use, but Harry had never used it. "We have to go!" Hermione cried Harry nodded pulling the mirror off the wall and hurrying along behind Solaris and Hermione as they descended quickly down the stairs. As the reached the ground floor a voice called out to them.

"Harry help me please." It was Ginny.

"No" Solaris coughed, "Its not real keep moving!" It took all of Harry's strength not to run back to her. They hadn't gone more then ten steps from the house when a hot white light burned Harry's back. Again he felt a powerful arm grab around his waist and then the feeling of becoming air born. Harry looked down to see the Burrow collapsing down on itself.

"A powerful dispelling charm." Hermione said. "Without magic the house couldn't stand on its own." She turned her attention to Solaris. Harry too looked at the battered Seraphim and much to his horror saw that the cut had become worse. Great boils had formed around the wound and one of his wings was flapping limply, its glowing white aura having turned a dull gray. "Are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"When dawn comes, my wounds will be healed by the light." Solaris said his voice sounded strained. "If I live till dawn." Hermione's eyes went wide. She turned and pointed her wand at his wound. "No…" Solaris coughed.

"_Shining light of ancient magic_," Hermione whispered not surprisingly it was a spell Harry did not know, and that he was willing to bet not many other wizards knew ether. "_sow the soul and bind the blood_." Hermione tapped the wound with the tip of her wand. The air seemed to suddenly become warm with a blue glow. Solaris winced as the wound closed and the boils shrunk and vanished, but the wing still remained gray.

"You are most talented." Solaris managed his voice sounding much stronger. "I know of few wizards with the knowledge to cast that spell and even fewer who would know to use it."

"Well you did save our lives," Hermione tried to smile but her face couldn't seem to manage it. For a long moment there was silence, then Harry remembered the mirror. He pulled it out of his robes and looked deep into it. Suddenly Ron's face appeared.

"Harry?" Ron yawned. "Harry! Mom, Ginny come quick it's Harry!" Ron shouted. More faces appeared in the mirror.

"Oh Harry!" Miss Weasley cried. Ginny was also crying but she didn't say anything. "Oh we were so worried about you! Are you alright?"

"Fine." Harry lied with a smile. "Are you all okay?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Ron said. "Were at.." Ron stopped "We are some place safe Harry, I can't say where though. Do you know if Hermione is okay?" Ron asked suddenly concerned.

"Yeah she's fine, she's here, with me," Harry paused. "Cant say where though." He said with a smile. "You want to talk to her?"

"Can't" Ron said, "we have to keep it brief incase someone is listening. Look Harry I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?" Ron said quickly but before Harry could reply Ron's face faded. Harry stared at the mirror for a long while.

"Ron." Harry said at last he shook the mirror but Ron's face did not appear. Frustrated Harry pushed the mirror back into his robes. Harry felt an anger rising at Ron. Harry hated Ron, he decided. He hated everything about him. Harry's eyes turned sideways to focus on Hermione, he hated her too.

'That's not true,' a voice in his head said.

'Yes it is,' a hissing echoed. 'She is a filthy mudblood.'

'She is your friend!' the first voice offered.

'She is your enemy!' the second voice retorted.

"Shut up!" Harry roared. Both Solaris and Hermione looked at Harry.

"What's.. what's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked through tear filled eyes. She moved a sleeve up to wipe her face.

"It isn't anything." Harry said angrily. His eyes swiveled down to look below. He could see clouds and.. ocean? "Where are you taking us Seraphim?" Harry suddenly demanded his scar starting to burn again, his voice an almost hiss. Harry felt a sudden wave of panic and anger.

"Harry." Hermione said in a distressed voice.

"What?" Harry shouted viciously. He could feel his blood boiling in his face and chest, he felt like he was about to explode with rage. "What do you want mudblood!" Harry said with a sneer. Hermione's face went white.

'You didn't mean that, did you Harry?' the calm voice asked, though it sounded hurt.

'Oh yes he did.' The sneer replied. 'She is a filthy, dirty, little know-it-all, mudblood.' Harry's hands flew against his head.

"Shut up, shut up." He chanted trying to drown out the fighting. For a moment a snake like face flashed before Harry's eyes and his scar erupted in pain. Harry let out a howl and began to kick about violently. He heard Solaris cry out as he felt one of his knees impact with a rib. Harry felt Solaris's grip loosen and then, he felt the rush of the wind as he fell from the sky.

'Yesss..' The voice hissed. 'Freedom..' Harry saw the sea rushing up at him at a terrible speed. He waited for the moment at which Solaris would swoop down and grab him. But the moment never came and Harry plunged into the icy blackness of the sea.

* * *

Notes from the Author:

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter there are lots more to come!

This is my first HP fanfic so go easy on… 'ouch, hey no throwing things at the author, honestly who brings tomatoes to a website?' .

I have been working on the story for quite some time and just now started putting it down on paper err… well, computer anyhow.

I have the next couple of chapters already written, I don't want to say there done because to me they are never really done. But they still need a bit more tweaking. Expect to see them up soon.

Please leave a review so I can know what you think.

One last note, because one of the people who read this before I put it up asked. 'Why are you calling them Seraphen, its spelled Seraphim' I went though a long discussion with him about how too many people would think I was trying to turn Harry religious. After a long time of reading and rereading I finally decided the correct spelling sounded better and just made more sense so I changed them all to Seraphim, 'I figured hey magical creatures with wings could have been mistaken for angles.'

Oddly enough the very next person who read the story after the change commented that I was helping Harry find god.

So, well it comes to this. They have wings, I think the name sounds neat and that's as far as it goes, you don't need to read any deeper into it than that D

Questions, feedback, comments? HEY I want to hear them!

Added Notes: This chapter has been modify from the original post. It has been better formatted to be more readable.


	2. – The Path, the Trial, the Painting

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 2 – The Path, the Trial, the Painting

Harry could feel the soft lapping of water against his legs. He could feel the softness of sand pressed against his face and he could taste the sting of salt and the bitterness of blood mixing in his mouth. Harry noticed immediately that one of the lenses of his glasses was gone. His body felt stiff and sore and cold. From what he could see it seemed as though it was still night.

Harry forced his arm to move forward and to help him push himself up. It was slow, tiring, painful work. Each inch he seemed to gain came at a great cost. But Harry knew he had to get up, had to get out of the water. How he had survived this long he did not know. The fall should have killed him, yet, here he was all the same. Was he dead? That would certainly make sense.

Harry blinked trying to put the world into focus. Across the sand that shimmered like the night sky was a great mountain and atop it sat a great castle. Harry looked form side to side, watching as the shore line curved away. He was most likely on an island. A great forest advanced around the mountain and down to the line of the sand.

Then Harry spotted, along the shore, another form, someone else perhaps, lying in the sand not far from him. 'Hermione!' He realized with shock. Harry shuffled across the sand on his knees, unable to get to his feet in his panic. 'Please let her be okay' Harry thought.

Hermione was facing away from him when he final reached her. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder and turned her on her back. The sweater was ice cold and very damp against his hand. Her eyes were closed and her face was pale. Harry put a hand against her neck feeling for a pulse. She was just as cold as the night air. But Harry could feel shallow breathing and a faint, slow heart beat.

He tied to think what to do next. What spell could he use to help her? Was there any muggle medicine he knew of that could do anything. Harry's brain whirled, nothing there wasn't any spell he knew of.

He knew many defensive and offensive charms but it dawned on him just how little school had really taught him about anything else. He wished that he had taken a class in which they had mentioned how to make someone who was cold feel warm, or some kind of curing charm. He was sure Hermione knew one. Did he as well? He couldn't remember if he did or not. Harry cursed himself. What if they had taught it in class and he hadn't been paying attention. Was Hermione suffering, dieing, because of his foolishness?

He covered her body with his own pressing down on her. Trying to will the warmth he could barley feel in his own skin to move to hers. As he pressed down Hermione coughed and spat up water. Her breathing became less shallow, but she still remained cold.

The wind moved around Harry and for a moment he thought he could hear words in the gust. Harry felt a coldness blow across his back. His damp clothing wasn't helping any. 'This way..' the wind echoed again. This time Harry was sure he had heard words. He pulled away from Hermione to look around. Harry could see nothing to indicate this way from that. Then Harry remembered there was a castle here!

Harry worked to get to his feet, intent on making his way to the castle. To his dismay he could make out many, many steps in the faint glow of the night. It seemed like an insurmountable number of stairs. Something he would not have attempted to climb even in the best of times. Harry took a deep breath, he didn't have a choice. He didn't think that he and Hermione would last long in this cold. Harry pulled out his wand.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_" he said pointing at Hermione. Nothing happened. Harry tried again. Still nothing. Was he doing the spell wrong perhaps? "_Lumos_" Harry breathed. A mixture of fear and anger now starting to build in him. His wand tip remained dark. Had he lost the ability to cast magic? Or was this place stopping him some how?

Harry didn't know, and right now he didn't have time to care. Harry knelt down, his arm like forklifts he lifted Hermione. She was heavy in him arms, much more so than she looked. Harry struggled to rise. He felt blackness creeping at the corners of his eyes.

'Give up.' the hissing voice said. 'Leave the mudblood. Save yourself.'

"No," Harry grunted back as he forced himself to rise, willing his legs to move, to take steps.

'Don't you see the foolishness of all this?' the voice asked. 'You cannot save her, there is no one in that castle that can help you, leave her, leave the mudblood!' The voice continued.

"No," Harry said more firmly. His body ached but his muscles seemed to regain a sudden strength. "I will not leave my friend." Harry yelled to the blackness.

'You will leave her, you will obey!' The voice demanded. And Harry felt his knees become week. 'You will not defy me you will do as I say!'

Harry's leg shook as he took another step. He was halfway across the beach. His arms felt weak. His strength seemed to be fading as quickly as it had come to him.

'She must die!' The voice commanded. 'You will leave her to die.'

"NEVER!" Harry yelled so loudly that he could swear the beach shook and the mountain quivered. His throat felt horse. His legs were carrying him on a mind of their own. He wasn't even sure he was moving anymore. But the voice was silent. And the cold wind seemed to have stopped.

---

Harry felt as if it were a dream. He was walking somewhere, he wasn't sure where but his friends were standing on the side lines cheering him on.

"Go Harry, go!" Ron shouted as Harry walked by. "I know you can do it I know you can beat Malfoy!" Harry turned to look back at Ron as he passed and not far behind Malfoy was carrying Goyle piggy back and walking quickly. Harry's head snapped forward again and he felt his feet move faster.

"Com'on 'arry!" Yelled Hagrid who was surrounded by a group of first year Gryffindors. Harry tried to walk faster but the smooth dirt path he was on suddenly began to curve up wards. He felt the heavy weight of Neville on his back.

Malfoy drew along side Harry. Goyle had a stupid look on his face.

"What's the matter Potter," Malfoy sneered. "Going to let me beat you?"

"Don't worry Harry we're a team!" Neville said and as though his words were some kind of magic Harry felt stronger, he began to walk faster.

The sloped path seemed to have become stone stairs. Malfoy fell behind again, seeming to fade into the blackness that was following Harry, as well as retreating in front of him.

He felt an arm around his neck. He looked down. Cradled in his arms was Ginny Weasley.

"Oh Harry!" Ginny said, grabbing his robes and sobbing into them. "I.. I.. lo.." she cut off a look of fear and embarrassment in her eyes. "You need to hurry you're almost there!" She said. Harry looked up seeing a great golden snitch at the top of the stairs and standing beneath it was Cho Chang. Harry felt his heart leap but then he felt a sudden sadness. Something, something was wrong. Harry thought. Someone was missing. Harry looked back down in his arms to find them empty.

Who was missing? Harry thought. Harry stopped walking. He couldn't remember who was missing. His legs felt like rubber. Harry blinked very slowly as if blinking was a difficult thing to do. Somewhere in the distance a bell seemed to be ringing.

He felt another hand grab his own. He looked to his right to see Hermione standing next to him.

"Come on Harry we are almost there! Lets run together!" Hermione shouted. And she began to run pulling him along behind her. In front of them the snitch had vanished and a nice warm inviting bed had appeared. Harry stumbled as Hermione pulled him to the end he fell forward and felt a stab of pain in his arms and knees.

Hermione looked at him with sad eyes. "Oh, Harry we made it!" She said. "Now you won't be expelled from Hogwarts!"

---

Vergal was on watch tonight. He didn't like watch much. It was duty for those of lesser rank, not a duty for a Knight of the Night. Vergal stroked one of his wings absently. It wasn't very large and it could only help him glide on the wind, not fly like most Seraphim. He knew that when he became older his wings would be strong, and he would be a great warrior like Shadra, Lady of the Night. The Seraphim he had given his loyalty to and had sworn to serve under. Or perhaps he would even be as strong as Oberon, the lord of all Seraphim, one day.

Vergal's eyes glazed over as he watched the stars and dreamed of the world beyond the island of Avalon. A world he had heard stories of but was forbidden to go to. He heard Shadra's voice, "Wizards, Muggles and monsters roam the world outside of Avalon! Only a full Knight of our order could ever hope to survive. There will come a day when you are ready to walk among the rest of the world, but that day is not today and that time is not now." Shadra had said. Then she had said that watching over Avalon was a Seraphims sworn duty and assigned him guard duty

Watching the endless clouds in the sky, the endless sea, the wizard boy running with incredibly speed up the 'The Path'. Vergal shook suddenly realizing what he was seeing. He looked down, shock awakening every part of him, a wizard boy running up the 'The Path'? Vergal had to look twice to confirm what he was seeing was truly happening.

There was a wizard on Avalon! 'No,' he realized with another great shock, 'Not _a_ _wizard_, two wizards!' For in the arms of the boy running up the steps was another. Vergal instinctively reached out a hand to the War Hammer that had been leaning against the wall, its white marble head gleaming in the night as if sun was reflected off it. Grabbing the shaft Vergal swung the hammer in a great arc connecting with the giant bell that hung not far from him. The sound echo through the night, but the boy did not look up as he drew ever closer at an even greater speed. Vergal had a sinking feeling that he would never hear the end of this.

---

When Harry awoke he found himself in a warm bed, clean white covers drawn up around him. For an instant Harry thought he was at Hogwarts but the realization of what had really happened began to flood back to him.

For the first time, now that he was alone and not running from something trying to kill him, he felt a great wave of sorrow wash over him. His uncle was dead. His god father was dead. Cedric was dead. Harry felt tears in his eyes and he could no longer hold back the pain and torment. He tucked his head against his knees and began to sob.

He wasn't sure how long he cried for only that when he stopped his bed sheets were thoroughly wet. He pulled himself out of bed finding himself in a very lavish looking room. It had a great bookcase that took up an entire wall floor to ceiling. The ceiling seemed to go up almost another floor above giving the room a great feel of openness. Harry viewed the bookcase with mild curiosity. He didn't see a way to get to any of the books near the top or in the middle, as there seemed to be no ladder.

'How strange.' Harry thought as he wondered around the room. He found many other interesting things. But by far the most eye-catching was a very large globe, almost as big as himself. Glowing on the enormous map of the planet was an island. In tiny glowing gold font below the island was the word 'Avalon'.

Harry stared at it for a long while then looked back over to England which sat north east of the island. Harry felt an odd sort nudging in his head. This map didn't seem right at all Harry thought; there shouldn't be an island in this spot. Harry looked over at London and saw to his surprise tiny gold words appear, one of which read, Diagon Alley. Harry felt his eyes move down the continent and he found another word that read, Hogwarts.

Something pinged in Harry's head. Something Hermione had said about Hogwarts.

'It is hidden,' Harry recalled. 'Hogwarts is unplotable.'

Behind him Harry heard the door creek open. His hand leapt down to his pocket where his wand should have been only to discover that it was not there. Cautiously Harry turned to see who had opened the door and was surprised to find a small child standing there. She was dressed in a white nightgown and had flowing gold hair that gleamed in the morning rays of the sun streaming in through the windows. If Harry had to guess he would say she was probably seven or eight years old.

The small girl smiled up at him. "Hello Mr. Harry Potter," she said the smile never leaving her face. "Lord Oberon has requested your presence." She held out and arm motioning out the door. Speechless Harry move out of the room and into the hallway. The door closed behind him and the girl rushed out in front of him to lead the way. Harry followed. The carpet out here was a deep red with polished wood floor showing on ether side. On the walls were hung large portraits, all of which moved. The figures in the painting all had great shimmering white wings sprouting out of their backs, each was garbed in an armor of a different color from the last.

"Where is Hermione?" Harry asked as they turned the corner and continued down another hallway.

"The other that you arrived with is not awake yet you may see her when she is. This way please." The girl said indicating a large stair way that led off to the left. Harry was not sure how many flights of stairs they ascended until they reached the top. What was with these people and stairs?

They entered into another long hallway, however this hall was not lined with paintings of Seraphim, instead he saw wizards here. Many he did not recognize, but one he did, Dumbledore. Harry stopped to look at the picture. Below it was a plack that read.

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Visitor of Avalon_

_1932_

"Visitor of Avalon?" Harry asked. The small girl stopped and walked back next to Harry.

"This is the great wizard Albus Dumbledore, visited the island of Avalon on April 4th 1932. He is currently head master of Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. Order of Merlin First class and one of the greatest wizards ever to visit Avalon." The girl said matter-of-factly. "This way please." She said holding out her hand politely then hurried off towards the end of the seemingly endless hallway.

Harry followed. His mind on the picture of Dumbledore. Absently he read the names of other wizards that had come here. Meldra Mulmar, Vel Mak, Gen Tezlo, Tom Riddle. Harry stopped suddenly and took a few steps back. His heart had skipped a beat. He reread the plaque.

_Tom Riddle_

_Visitor of Avalon_

_1962_

"Voldemort?" Harry said aghast "Voldemort was here?"

"One of the darkest wizards ever to walk the earth Tom Marvolo Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort and to many in the world of wizards as 'he-who-must-not-be named,' Visited Avalon on June 20th 1962. He has since been responsible for more than 4,811 muggle deaths, 1,421 wizard killings, 213 slaughtered Seraphim as well as other countless acts of violence. Defeated by you, he was unheard from for almost 12 years and…"

"I know," Harry said angrily. "Never Mind." They continued on. Harry averting his eyes from the walls fearful of what other horrors he might find there. At last they reached large double doors. The small girl waved her hand towards it. Harry, taking this as a gesture that he was to precede on his own, placed his hands on the door and pushed.

As though they were made of air the door floated away opening into a room that was surpassed in its grandeur only by Dumbledore's office. Against the wall to his right was a huge bookcase, alone it must be filled with as many books as the Hogwarts Library. And to his left the oddest contrast he could imagine. A huge rack filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes from tiny daggers to great swords. Below each weapon a name was engraved, the name of the weapon perhaps? His eyes glazed over the names but one weapon sitting at the bottom caught his full attention a mace with the word 'Solaris' under it. Was he wrong, maybe the engraving wasn't the name of the weapon but…

Something out of the corner of Harry's eye moved. He turned his head to see the rays of the sun pouring in through a window, at the end of the room, which seemed to have no glass. As if born from the sun itself a great winged man materialized in the light. Twelve shimmering wings rose from his back. He was clad in deep purple armor lined in gold. Long white hair flowed from his head and a beard like clouds adorning his face. In-between beard and hair, eyes like the sky cut their way though to find Harry. The man did not sit nor did his gaze wander. Harry felt suddenly compelled to approach, when he did not the man spoke in a voice that seemed to command the air.

"Come closer, Mr. Harry Potter." The man said. "You may sit if you wish." He moved his hand out in front of him and a chair rippled into existence. Harry moved closer but he did not sit. "I am Oberon, Lord of Avalon." The man announced. "We wait only on the Templar before we begin." As if this were a queue the doors in the back of the room, through which Harry had come, opened and a small army of Seraphim entered, each wearing a different color of armor and holding some type weapon. "Welcome Templar of Avalon, I have requested your presence because of the challenge made by Lord Puck." Oberon's gaze turned to the Seraphim standing on the left most side of the line. If it had not been for the four large white wings folded behind his back Harry might have mistaken this man, bird, Seraphim, for professor Snape. Puck had ear length greasy black hair and dark eyes. His nose was hooked and beneath it was an almost unmistakable sneer of contempt, for Harry? Harry wasn't sure if it was or not. Like all the other people in the room Puck was clad in a different color armor form the rest, his plate armor shown blood red, outlined in gold and on his side instead of a wand a long curved blade.

"My Lord Oberon," Puck begin his voice wasn't a hiss as Harry would have thought instead it was quite the opposite, his words were strong and his voice almost had a musical quality to it as though he was singing each word. "By law of Avalon, this boy, has completed the first two rights of passage. I do not deny that. But, it is still your decision, my Lord Oberon." Harry listened in wonder, what two rights of passage? He couldn't remember doing anything. "I therefore urge you to send, this boy, away. Firstly because only one wizard may visit Avalon at a time. And secondly because of this boys ties to the Dark Lord." Harry was stunned. 'the dark lord' the only people he ever heard call Voldemort, the dark lord were Death Eaters. "He has been here once before, and we do not wish his return. The Dark Lord would follow this boy to the end of the earth!" Puck bowed his head. "I request that he leave." Oberon said nothing till Puck finished, his eyes never moving from Pucks face.

Slowly Oberon turned to the next Seraphim in line. "Lady Shadra of the Night, what say you to this challenge?" Oberon asked. The women who stood next to Puck was quite the contrast. She was donned in black armor lined in gold. Her hair was a flowing white, even though her face looked very young. She was perhaps the second shortest person in the room, save for Harry. One palm rested on the silver shaft of a very large hammer. How she could lift such a thing Harry couldn't fathom.

"My Lord Oberon," Shadra began. Her voice was soft like a gentle night's breeze. "I agree with Puck, the Dark Lord will follow Harry Potter to the ends of the earth and even to Avalon. I would also request that he leave." She bowed her head, Oberon nodded. Harry felt more uneasy. They were voting him off the island like that horrible muggle TV show and there seemed like nothing he could do. He was about to voice his protest when Oberon spoke again.

"Lady Aier of the Sky, what say you to this challenge?" The women standing next to Shadra was by far the most beautiful. Having an almost Velia quality to her. She had long golden hair and stunning crystal blue eyes. Light blue armor covered her body, the same color as Solaris, with the exception that hers was lined in gold. Harry suddenly realized that it was the first time he had seen any Seraphim wear the same color of armor. She didn't seem to have a weapon of any kind that Harry could see.

"My Lord Oberon," Aier began. Her voiced sounded, much to Harry's dismay, much like Professor McGonagall. "I would argue this challenge. Lord Voldemort might be trying to kill Harry Potter but he would not be so foolish as to outright attack Avalon. I would request that he stay if that is his wish." She bowed to Oberon. One supporter! Harry thought.

Oberon's gaze fell to the next person. The man clad in white armor with white hair to match. "Lord Maz of the Light." Again the Seraphim greeted Oberon and began to speak. He also requested Harry be permitted to stay.

Finally Oberon turned to the last person in line. She was clad in turquoise armor that reminded Harry of the ocean. He was not surprise when Oberon addressed her as Lady Elsea of the Sea. Harry watched here uncertainly not knowing what to expect. Unlike the Seraphim before her she did not begin with 'My Lord Oberon' but instead bowed, giving no explanation and said, "I request he leave." Oberon nodded.

That's it Harry thought 3 to 2. He hadn't even had a say.

Then he realized that Oberon was staring at him. "Mr. Harry Potter, what say you to this challenge?" Harry was caught off guard his mind began to race.

"My Lord Oberon," Harry said stalling for time, that's what the others had said. "I protest." That was all he could come up with his mind was stuck. What was his argument, he wasn't ready. He had to say more. But what, the only thing his mind could come up with was… "I would like to stay on Avalon, Solaris risked his life to get me here and…" Harry was cut off by a gasp from behind him and a sharp intake of breath from some place off to his left. Oberon seemed to grow larger. The room darkened and even the sky outside become cloud cast. The sun light that had poured in stopped. Harry felt very nervous. Was Solaris an outcast like Firenze the centaur that had been cast out of his clan for coming to teach at Hogwarts?

"Continue." Oberon said, his voice was still strong.

"After fighting Voldemort," Harry continued. "Solaris was flying me and Hermione some place safe. I can only assume this is where he meant to take us. If you still want me to go I will." Harry bowed to Oberon. Oberon took a deep breath and the room began to feel warm again. Light shined through the clouds outside once more and the sky became bright.

"I have considered carefully all that has been said and done." Oberon announced. "It is true that the Dark Lord Voldemort may try and attack Mr. Harry Potter while he is here. However, we know that the Dark Lord Voldemort will attack the island of Avalon one day, if not this day then another. I therefore grant you passage of your final right. Welcome to the island of Avalon, Mr. Harry Potter." Oberon's tone was final and the Seraphim behind Harry bowed and turned to leave, except for Aier who remained. Oberon waited till the others had exited the room.

"My Lord Oberon?" Aier said at last when only she, Harry and Oberon remained. "Can it be true that Solaris lives?" Her eyes fell to Harry, "Are you sure it was him?" Harry felt suddenly uncomfortable. The look in this women's eyes was one of sadness and desperation. Nothing like she had been a moment ago. Oberon held up a hand.

"Lady of the Sky." Oberon said, his voice gentle. "I do not believe we should discuss this now. If you would excuse us, Mr. Harry Potter." Across the room one of the great doors opened and the small girl in the white nightgown appeared. Harry turned to leave. "Oh and Mr. Harry Potter," Oberon said picked up something off his desk, Harry turned back around to look, it was his wand! "I believe this belongs to you." Oberon let go of it and it floated over to Harry, who pulled it from the air. Harry nodded. "Aura will take you to your friend." Oberon said. Harry nodded thankful and crossed the room to the door. He could feel Aier's eyes on him.

---

Aura led him down the hallway leading away from the great room. His mind was still racing. Harry wished he had asked who Solaris was. But he hadn't. Suddenly there was a hand held up in front of him. Harry stopped confused for a moment. The little girl smiled at him.

"Wait here please," Aura said before she vanished into the door they had stopped at. A moment later Hermione appeared dressed in a black snug fitting robe.

"Harry!" She squealed and to Harry's dismay, she flung her arms around him in a crushing hug.

"Her…mi…one…. air!" Harry managed. She let him go and her checks warmed. Harry took a breath. "I'm glad you're okay." Harry smiled.

"I was so worried! They said you were going to some kind of challenge!" Hermione said very quickly. As she was about to continue Harry held up a hand.

"Its alright 'mione." Harry said. "It's over, everything's okay." She nodded at him breathless.

"Well then, this way please." Aura said from some place down around Harry's middle. He was shocked to see her as he hadn't noticed her come out of the room. "Master Dolar is waiting for us." Harry shot Hermione a sideways glance.

"I'm sorry Master Dolar?" Hermione asked. Aura nodded.

"Yes he will be painting your portrait." Hermione's eyes lit up, but Harry felt suddenly awkward. He had never had his portrait painted before. His mind suddenly flashed back to the portrait of Tom Riddle that hung in one of the hallways above them. "This way please." Aura said leading them off.

"Hermione," Harry whispered. "Voldemort was here." Hermione's eyes went wide clearly shouting out WHAT! "I saw his picture up stairs in the hallway. Look I don't know much about where we are but the Seraphim seem concerned that Voldemort might try and attack me here too." Hermione's brow furled.

"That's not very likely." Hermione said in a skeptical voice. "This is the island of Avalon Harry." Not seeing any visible reaction from Harry she let out a sigh. "Avalon Harry, the island of Avalon? It's the burial place of King Arthur. It's the island where Merlin hid forbidden magic. It's… well it's the island of Avalon Harry! Honestly don't you pay attention at all in A History of Magic class at all! No don't answer that I know you don't." Hermione sighed.

"Okay long ago there was a king and his name was Arthur Pendragon." Hermione began.

"I think I might have seen this in a Disney movie Dudley watched once." Harry said. "Didn't he have some magic sword that he pulled out of a rock?"

"Well it's not the best version of the story but I guess it's a start. Now Arthur was helped by a very powerful wizard by the name of Merlin, you do know who he is right?" Hermione said with a quizzical glance. Harry nodded, though now that someone had brought it up he really wasn't sure. He knew Merlin was a great wizard, the great wizard, but beyond that.

"Merlin discovered the island of Avalon and found a warrior there called Oberon." Harry raised an eyebrow. Oberon was old but how old, Harry wondered, surly it couldn't be the same person.

"Oberon had been cursed by the Dark Wizard Tromedlov, his brother and the first dark wizard. Merlin was able to remove the curse. Combine with the magic of Merlin, Oberon and the island of Avalon it is said that Oberon grew twelve shinning wings. In debt to Merlin, Oberon swore his loyalty and together they discovered powerful magic hidden inside Avalon. It is said that the first wand was made here on Avalon by Oberon and given to Merlin as a gift.

"When King Arthur died he was buried on Avalon along with his sword, Excalibur. The Seraphim are the guardians of Avalon, protecting King Arthur's resting place and his sword, in debt to Merlin."

Harry was having trouble following all of this but he nodded anyhow. Hermione correctly interpreting the look in his eyes continued.

"Sooo," she stressed. "Avalon is the birth place of magic, where the first muggle became magical, Merlin." Harry's eyes were still glazed over. Hermione shook her head. "For most wizards this island is the holy land of all holy lands. This is where it began. This is where Merlin's magic was born!" Hermione said forcefully.

"'mione how is it you know everything?" Harry asked inquisitively. She grinned at him.

"Well, not that you'll ever read it but I read Avalon, A History." Hermione beamed. Harry groaned inwardly.

"We are here. Master Dolar is inside waiting for you." Harry glanced over at Hermione and then took hold of the door latch, lifted and pushed the door inwards.

---

The room beyond was hung with many paintings of people, animals and landscapes. Many art easels littered the large room. Some had unfinished art on them, others were empty. Two great windows stood on the far side to let the rays of the sun stream in.

An elderly man, who truly looked older then Oberon stood at one of the easels painting a young girl who looked almost exactly like the girl that had just led them here. Harry looked back out the door and was surprised to see that they were almost identical.

The old man lifted his brush from the canvas and turned to look at the people at his door.

"That will do, thank you Sara." He said. The young girl nodded and walked out the door smiling at Harry and Hermione as she passed. "You will excuse me, it has been a very long time since I have painted anyone young. I find it helps to paint someone very young to even out the age difference." The man said with a smile. Harry didn't think it made much sense. "If both of you stand over there please." He motioned to where the girl had been.

"Your going to put us both in one portrait?" Harry asked not moving as Hermione started walking over.

"Of course," the old man said. "You arrived together and will spend your visit here together. Therefore there is no reason you should not be remembered together!" He held out his hand to where Hermione was now standing.

Taking a deep breath Harry walked over. "Perhaps if the lady would care to sit." He motioned to a chair that wasn't far away. Hermione went over, pulled it back and sat down.

"How long will this take?" Harry asked.

"Only a moment." The old man replied. And his brush began to fly over his canvas as thought it was filled with magic, which it most likely was. Harry suddenly felt strange his skin began to tingle. And his scar twinged. For an instant Harry could have sworn the room looked like some place else, a corridor line with torches and a door at the end. A moment latter the feeling was gone he was standing behind Hermione his hand clasped tightly on her shoulder squeezing much harder than he was meaning too.

"Ouch, Harry." Hermione protested. Harry quickly let go.

"Sorry." Harry said in a distant voice. Hermione eyed him.

"What's wrong Harry?" She asked.

"It's nothing." Harry lied. Hermione frowned she knew it wasn't nothing, Harry could tell from the look on her face.

"Curious." Said the old man interrupting the two.

"I'm sorry sir but what's curious?" Hermione asked.

"It would be easier to show then to explain, as I have no explanation." He motioned for them to come over and see the painting. Hermione stood and Harry followed as they walked around to see.

As the picture came into view Hermione raised any eyebrow. Harry stared at the picture. It was very life like, moving in fact. But nether of the people in the picture were up looking at them just now. Instead they were looking behind over their shoulders towards the door at the end of the stone corridor. This felt very familiar to Harry.

"It's the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side!" Hermione cried. "Why on earth did you paint us here?" Then Harry spotted it, the thing that himself in the picture had spotted, a dark shadow against the wall in the background.

"You see it, don't you?" The old man said. Harry looked at the old man. "The third person in the painting?"

* * *

Authors Notes:

This is the second chapter in the ongoing story, Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. (ahhh my hands they burn!)

Lots lots lots lots more to come, I promise!

I will be putting up a new chapter at least once per week. I feel any much faster then that and they would begin to lose quality.

I already have the next 3 chapters ready as this one goes up and I am currently working on chapter 6. As soon as I proof, reproof, rereproof they will be up for your enjoyment so check back. Soon

Yes this story will have romance in it as well as violence, bad language and other mature themes I promised in the summery.

But the story is what's important to me so those get attention first. Expect it to be a good while before you really see anything serious happening between anyone, relationships don't come together overnight!

Questions, feedback, comments? HEY I want to hear them!


	3. – The Secrets of Avalon

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 3 - The Secrets of Avalon

Aura led the way again as they left Master Dolars room. She had informed them that breakfast was about to start. Hermione was talking, very fast and Harry felt the thumping of his heart in his head.

"But it doesn't make any sense. The Piratnis Charm can only paint the people directly in front of it!" Hermione said. "There wasn't a third person in the room, unless he painted himself."

"Hermione," Harry said in a low aggravated voice.

"I mean it just doesn't work that way you can't paint shadows! There would've had to be a third person there, but there wasn't! And the off limits corridor at Hogwarts?"

"Hermione," Harry said again more loudly.

"It is a magic painting. But it's still very odd and…" Hermione finally seeing the look on Harry's face stopped. "What?"

"Will you give it a rest?" Harry said his head was pounding now.

"Harry are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"I'm fine." Harry lied again, his palm mashing his forehead. He felt Hermione grab his arm very tightly and pull him to face her. Her eyes cut into him as though they could see the thoughts inside his head. "Alright I'm not fine." Harry protested.

"You know more then you're letting on, what is it, what is wrong?" Hermione asked. Harry took a deep breath, now was as good a time as any to tell her.

"It's something out of a dream." Harry began. Hermione's eyes went wide. "No not like last time, it's not a vision. It's a memory. I have been having them all summer long. More like nightmares than dreams really.

"I have been re-living events that have happened to me over the last five years at Hogwarts. Everything from the first time I fought Voldemort till the battle at the Ministry of Magic. All the horrible memories seem to keep coming up." Hermione looked very worried.

"The third-floor corridor is the one that comes up the most." Harry said finally.

"And you feel compelled to go there?" Hermione asked panic in her eyes.

"In the dream we are trying to get through the door at the end of the hall but Snape stops us every time." Harry said. "But I don't really feel the same way I did with the door in the Ministry. When I'm awake I'm glad it's over, but when I'm asleep I feel like I need to get through the door. Hermione," Harry said seeing the look on her face, "It's not the same thing, it's just a memory."

"Except I don't remember Snape in the third-floor corridor." Hermione said. "How long have you been having these dreams?" Harry tensed.

"A while." He said trying to make his tone final. Hermione was about to speak again when a small voice spoke up.

"I am sorry to interrupt, however we are being waited on to start." Aura said from in front of them. Hermione let go of Harry's arm and followed Aura as she walked away. The pounding in his head seemed to have stopped but a new feeling in his stomach seemed to have replaced it.

---

Aura led the way into a huge room filled with far more Seraphim than Harry would have thought possible. There seemed to be five distinct colors in the room, red, black, sky blue, white, and turquoise. All separated into an almost circular seating assignment.

As they walked down the isle Harry felt as though all eyes were watching him.

In the very center of the room was a large round table. Six Seraphim sat at it, the Templar and Oberon. Harry noticed two extra seats.

Around them in a large hexagonal shape where long tables placed almost end to end but moved slightly apart to create the isles. At each table different colors of Seraphim sat.

It was almost like houses, at Hogwarts, Harry thought. Aura led them to their places at the round table in the middle. When they sat down Oberon rose.

"My fellow Seraphim." He began in a booming voice. "As most of you have been made aware we have two wizards on our island. It is unusual, but they have been granted my blessing. By the Oath of Merlin, we do protect them until they or Avalon decide it is time for them to leave."

"By the Oath of Merlin." The Seraphim echoed. Oberon sat down. And the plates filled with food. Harry felt like he was back at Hogwarts attending the great feast. Except that what the plates had filled with was nothing like Harry would have called food.

Everything was some type of raw uncooked meat in large quantities. There seemed to be no forks or spoons or eating utensils of any kind. Neither Harry nor Hermione were prepared for what happened next.

Like a pack of ravenous wolfs the Seraphim all around them began to tear at the meat in a most unmannered way. 'If only Aunt Petunia could see this.' Harry thought.

The Seraphim sitting next to Harry rested a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly into his ear. It was the Seraphim called Maz.

"Tis true you saw Solaris?" Maz whispered. Even though the room was filled with the noise of Seraphim eating, talking and laughing Harry could swear that everyone was listening for him to say something. Harry took a deep breath

"That's what he called himself." Harry said as he reached out tentatively for a piece of meat that didn't seem too unappealing. "I don't really know if he was or not."

Harry could feel Maz's grip tighten, he was sure that everyone at the table was listening to him.

"What happened to him? Why didn't he make it to the island with you?" Maz pressed. How was Harry supposed to respond to that? He didn't know what had happened to Solaris, he did have a guess though and it wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

"I don't know." Harry said trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I think he was badly injured. He helped me fight off a group of dementors and Death Eaters.""Dementors?" A voice from across the table chimed in, it was Puck. "The vile creatures. Don't tell me the Ministry of Magic still uses them!" Puck had a disgusted look on his face his tone was less like song as he spoke this time.

"Well they did for a long time, they used to be the guards of Azkaban." Harry said he could feel all the eyes of the room upon him now. "But when Voldemort returned they joined him." Harry was surprised that no one at the table had flinched at Voldemort's name.

"Of course they did." Shadra replied. "They are creatures of darkness. It is one of the many reasons that wizards are fools."

Hermione gave a little cough.

"I'm sorry?" Hermione asked. "Wizards are fools?"

"Hermione," Harry hissed at her. There was a room full of magical creatures with weapons of all shapes and sizes and Hermione was daunting them! Harry had the uncomfortable feeling like they were back in the dark forest talking with the centaurs.

"And do you consider us fools?" Hermione pressed on. Shadra's lip pulled back as though the thought of Hermione talking to her disgusted her.

"Lass don't yah mind the Lady of the Night." Maz said with a hearty laugh. "She's never really liked wizards, well, to be honest not many Seraphim do." Hermione still looked upset.

"You have to understand." Came a soothing voice from the seat next to Puck. Harry looked over spotting the women in turquoise armor. Now that she was sitting Harry noticed that she looked much younger, maybe like 16. "That many wizards have done horrible things over the ages to Seraphim and others that are not wizards. With the exception of a very few, Seraphim don't much like wizards, and wizards don't much like Seraphim."

"And Solaris?" Hermione asked suddenly. It seemed to be the magic word. The room became completely quite.

"Solaris," Oberon said, his voice was filled with sadness. "Was a great Seraphim. We shall speak no more ill of anyone this morning." Oberon's voice boomed around the room. The rest of the meal was finished in silence.

---

After breakfast, both Harry and Hermione had eaten very little, Hermione suggested that they explore the island. Harry was glad to get away from the eyes of the Seraphim in the breakfast hall. Aura led them to the gates of the castle.

"If you need anything just call my name and I will come to help." She said with a smile and then skipped off. Two large Seraphim guards clad in white armor lined with silver stood at the front gate. Both had long sharp looking spears and two small wings that looked out of place. Harry and Hermione approached cautiously. The guards watched them as they crossed the entry space.

"Um," began Harry. "We would like to go outside please." The Seraphim on the left looked down at him and smiled.

"Of course, however I have been told to explain a few things." The Seraphim said. "First, you would do well to return to the castle before dark." Harry nodded, that was reasonable. He wasn't sure he wanted to be out after dark anyhow. "Second the ruins on the far side of the island are off limits. This for your own safety, if you do not wish to heed these rules we will not be able to help if danger falls upon you." Harry nodded again. This made him feel a little uneasy. What sort of danger was there on this island?

"There is a boat at the shore of Avalon. Should you ever wish to leave you may take it. It will take you wherever you need to go."

"Alright," replied Harry.

"One last thing." The Seraphim reached behind him and pulled out two silver chains with glowing white feathers attached to them. "These are yours for as long as you remain on this island. However they will only work close to the castle." He handed one to Harry and one to Hermione. "May the blessing of Merlin protect you." The Seraphim said with a bow.

"Thanks." Harry replied. Then walking forward he pushed open the great door. It was a sight Harry wouldn't have believe possible. Hermione let out a gasp. Before them was a long gray stone stairway leading down to the golden beach far below. The ice blue water stretched out as far as the eye could see until it met with the dark-white underside of the clouds that filled the sky to the horizon. On ether side of the path trees sprung up in varying height. Above, the clouds formed a perfect unbroken circle that seemed to wait at the edge of the island as though they were afraid to drift over it. And streaming down was the sun just cresting over the clouds.

"It's incredible." Harry said. Hermione smiled.

"Well it is the island of Avalon!" She replied. "Let's try out these flight charms." Harry looked over at her to see what she was talking about, but she was already pulling the silver chain round the top of here head and down to her neck. Then without warning she hopped off the ground and floated as thought gravity had given up on her."'Mione how are you doing that?" Harry asked in surprise. She smiled and took hold of the feather on the necklace.

"It's a flight charm. It lets you fly!" She said. "Though we shouldn't go too high up, the Seraphim at the door said it only works close to the castle. Harry shrugged and pulled on the silver necklace. His whole body suddenly felt weightless, like he was a feather. Hopping off the ground he found that he did not return to it.

The feeling was nothing like a broom. It was total freedom, he felt like he was the wind. It was a feeling he'd felt before, but he couldn't recall from where, a dream perhaps? He smiled at Hermione.

"This is brilliant!" Harry said. Hermione smiled back.

"Well let's go!" Hermione cried as she turned in the air and soared off down the long stairway.

---

The closer they came to the beach the heavier Harry felt. When they finally reached it his feet touched the ground and he found that it was much harder to jump and hang in the air.

"Well," Hermione said, at least we won't have to walk up all those stairs.

Harry took a deep breath inhaling the sea air. He couldn't remember ever having been to a beach before, he liked it here. The sound of the sea was very soothing.

"Well 'Mione which way you think we should go?" Harry asked feeling invigorated, now that he was out of the castle. Hermione sat down looking a bit windswept and looked around. The island seemed to curve away in both directions, nether looking much different from the other.

"Can we rest for a moment?" She asked. Harry shrugged and sat down beside her. As they sat she began to undo her shoes. "You should take yours off too." Hermione said after a moment. "Sand's an unconformable thing to have in them." Harry reached down and pulled his shoes off not bothering to untie them.

The warm sand felt good against his bear feet. He could fell the wind brush against them and the sun shine on them. He thought that if he had been alone he might have stripped down and walked naked.

"How about this way?" Hermione asked bringing Harry back from his day dream. Harry nodded, got to his feet and gave Hermione a hand up. They began their walk along the shoreline. It was very pleasant. Harry never imagined that the sound and feel of the ocean could be so soothing. The gentle breeze seemed to carry away his worries and for the first time, in much longer then Harry could remember, he felt happy.

It wasn't long before they came upon what seemed to bee some type of stone pool. Around it were four white pillars, one of witch had been broken just below the middle. The top half lay a few feet away, half sunk in the sand. A domed top resting on the three remaining pillars shaded the pool from the sun.

Cautiously they moved up to the pool. Harry could feel the cool stone against his feet. He couldn't imagine how the sand was so warm and the stone so cold. Leaning over the edge Harry looked into the pool of water. The water was very reflective, almost mirror like. Harry couldn't see the bottom but just beneath the surface the water seemed to swirl.

"What do you think it is?" Harry asked as his reflection mimicked his movements. Hermione didn't answer. Becoming worried he looked over to find Hermione was no longer kneeling next to him. In fact she wasn't anywhere at all! Harry started to panic and then he heard a voice from below him, from inside the pool of water. Harry looked back down into the water and was shocked to see himself, Neville and two Hermiones one sitting against a wall.

Harry, in the pool, was prone on the floor crawling towards her, Neville's nose was broken and he cupped it as blood ran down his hand. Harry suddenly realized that this was the Ministry of Magic and that this was the moment Hermione had been hit with some unknown spell.

Suddenly Harry realized what this was. It was a pensive! Lowering his head to the waters surface he felt himself falling then floating and finally stopping as he landed next to the real Hermione in the memory. The scene was frozen, a purple bolt of light just hitting Hermione's chest, a look of surprise on her face. Harry put a hand on the real Hermione's shoulder and she jumped. Her eyes looked fearful.

"Com'on 'Mione," Harry said, "I don't think this is something we want relive." She nodded and looking upwards they felt themselves pulled out and kneeling back on the cool stone at the waters edge. Hermione ran her hand through her hair awkwardly.

"I was just thinking how the smoke reminded me of that night and suddenly I was there." She said her voice uneasy.

"I know," Harry replied. "It's like the pensive in Dumbledore's office." Hermione nodded absently he wasn't sure if she had actually taken in the words he had just said.

Then Harry had an idea. Pensives let you see memories? Weren't the dreams Harry was having just memories?

"'Mione, I want to try something." Harry looked down at the mirror like water and concentrated. The water began to swirl much faster, the surface rippled and below the third-floor corridor came into view. Hermione let out a gasp. Harry leaned forward his nose touched the surface and he was suddenly pulled in. He floated slowly towards the ground. Looking up he saw Hermione floating down after him.

"We can watch the dream and see what happens. See if there is something," Harry said his thoughts out of order, "Something I missed." From the uneasy look on Hermione's face she didn't seem to think this was a good idea but didn't say anything. The corridor was empty except for the two of them. Torches lit the walls and the door at the end of the corridor was closed. There were no shadows, no people, no anyone except the two of them.

"Maybe it's frozen, like yours was." Harry said after a while when nothing had happened. Hermione pursed her lips.

"No look at the torches on the walls, they're flickering." Hermione said pointing at one of the torches.

"But how can this be a memory, we are the only ones here. There is no one to be remembering this." Harry pointed out. "Maybe we are outside on the stairs. Wait here and call me if you see us." With that Harry moved down the corridor, away from the door and around the corner, vanishing out of sight.

Hermione waited. She didn't like this place. It seemed colder then she remembered and more frightening now that she was alone.

Harry reappeared.

"No, there's no one out there, which can only mean we must already be inside." Harry looked down at the door.

"I really don't think this is a good idea." Hermione protested. But Harry ignored her as he moved towards the door. They were almost there when, pulling off the invisibility cloak, Snape jumped off the wall. Wand out stretched pointed at Harry.

"Mr. Potter." Snape hissed coldly. "Back again I see." Snape moved forward towards Harry his wand still pointed at him purposefully. "I have told you that you are out of bounds. I have warned you not to come back here and yet, you persist."

"Professor," Hermione began, "I can explain." But Snape didn't seem to hear her, or he was ignoring her.

"I think 200 points from Gryffindor and a years worth of detention should ensure you not to return here. Mr. Potter." Without thinking Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Snape, Snape's eyes flared. "_Ex_.."

".._spelliarmus_!" Hermione shouted finishing before Snape. His wand flew into the air.

"_Avada_ _Kedavra_!" Harry shouted his curse hit Snape in the chest sending him flying against the back wall. Hermione gasped. "It's not the real Snape." Harry said his wand still pointed at the crumpled heap next to the door. Hermione was very scared now. Harry has used the killing curse, an unforgivable curse, to kill Snape, not the real Snape but still! Another spell would have worked just as well.

"Harry, I think we should go. I think, I think this…" Hermione said her eyes still fixed on Snape's lifeless body. But Harry wasn't listening he moved the rest of the length of the hall way and tried the door latch. It was locked.

"_Allohamora_." Harry said pointing at the door. But it remained locked. He tried again and again each time his voice becoming more agitated.

"Harry, come on please." Hermione said dancing on the spot. "Let's go this doesn't feel right." Harry still ignoring her moved over to Snape.

"Yes he must have the key, find the key, take the key." Harry hissed allowed. He patted down Snape's robes and found a metal object in his breast pocket. Harry reached inside Snape's robes and pulled out a white bone key that had the shape of a serpent. Hermione gasped. "Now the door, open the door!"

"Harry no, stop!" Hermione cried. Harry's feet turned and he moved towards the door his hand extending with the key. Its end touched the lock and…

"_Exspelliarmus_!" Hermione shouted. The key flew into the air and Hermione caught it. Harry turned slowly rage exploding in his green eyes. His scar seemed to glow as though it was filled with fire.

"Give me that." Harry said his voice a raspy whisper. "Give me the key mudblood." Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Hermione. Behind him there was a thud from the other side of the door. Dust trickled down. "Give me the key!" Harry shouted moving slowly, purposefully, towards her. Slowly his body began to change, his legs and arms seemed to meld together as his body elongated into a serpent, a basilisk! His green eyes became yellow.

Hermione's wand was shaking now as she kept it pointed at Harry. She closed her eyes. 'It's just a dream, it's just a memory, none of it is real, it can't hurt me." She thought.

"Stay away from me!" Hermione shouted. "Leave me alone!"

"Give it to me." The snake hissed. "Give the key to me." Hermione knew the snake was drawing closer and if she opened her eyes to look up and leave the memory, what would happen? Their spells had worked. What if the memory had the power to petrify her just like the real basilisk? She was about to open her eyes when she suddenly heard a strange beautiful song. An enchanting melody that seemed to make all her worries fade. A Phoenix song! She suddenly realized. Then there was sputtering and hissing from in front of her. And she heard a voice she did not recognize.

"Your bird may have blinded the basilisk but it can still hear you!" The shrill voice shouted. Hermione opened her eyes to see the snake trashing its head from side to side, its eye sockets bloody.

She felt a weight on her shoulder sitting there was a Phoenix, but it wasn't like the one she had seen in Dumbledore's office. It had Red-gold feathers all over its body, with black along the edge of its wings. It was much smaller than Dumbledore's Phoenix too. Hermione gasped, it had a black lighting shaped pattern down its wing.

The bird hopped off her shoulder and hovered a moment in front of her before becoming Harry. Instead of a wand in his hand he held a sword which he pointed at the basilisk. The snakes head turned down at him and struck with blinding speed. The blade of the sword moved through the snake's mouth and out the back of its head killing it instantly. The snake dropped to the ground dead. Harry let go of the sword. All Hermione could do was stair at him.

"I think it's time we leave." Harry said breathless. Hermione nodded and looking up at the small whole of light in the ceiling they found themselves outside of the pool of water.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded.

"What just happened?"

"I don't really know." Replied Harry uneasily. "I went out to see if we were in the stairway but we weren't there. When I turned to come back I found that I couldn't remember which passage I had come out of." Harry pause for a moment looking worried and then continued. "And I heard you shouting and I, well I dono really I just kind of became a Phoenix when I remember what Fawks had done." Hermione suddenly started.

"Harry its getting dark!" She said. "I can't believe it this late! We need to get back to the castle before nightfall." She stood and began to move back along the beach. Harry got up and took a few quick strides to catch her.

"What's wrong with the dark?" Harry asked. "Not that I very much want to be out here right now." Not looking at him Hermione proceeded to explain.

"Seraphim, are Magical Creatures of light." Hermione began. "At night they are very vulnerable. The reason that they don't want us out at night is that they can't protect us. They can't even protect themselves." Harry was suddenly puzzled.

"But Solaris fought the Death Eaters off with us when it was night. He even took full killing curses and still continued to fight." Harry said feeling a sudden ping of guilt as he realized that Solaris had not made it to the island. Harry felt a profound loss at what it might mean.

"Well, Seraphim wings are some of the most powerful magical objects in the world. They are anti magic. Spells have no effect against them. It looked like they only sort of worked for Solaris.

"Their wings are also one of the reasons that they don't like wizards very much and why wizards don't like them." Hermione continued as they walked. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"About 300 years ago a group of wizards began hunting Seraphim and cutting their wings off to make them into anti magic cloaks. A wizard wearing such a cloak would be nearly immune to any magic cast at him." Hermione pursed her lips. "Mind you it was illegal, and many wizards who did such acts were sent to Azkaban for the rest of their lives. But Seraphim trust has never really healed. Most wizards are afraid of Seraphim because their magic won't work properly against them. And so it's mutual distrust on both sides. Avalon is the one place that is supposed to be neutral ground. Because you can't come here unless Merlin thinks your worthy." Hermione finished out of breath.

"What'da you mean?" Harry asked. "About Merlin thinking we are worthy."

"Avalon is hidden by a magical vile. You can't apparate here. Nor can you travel here by any conventional means. Only if Avalon thinks you are worthy to be here can you get here, that's the first right of passage." Something in Harry's head pinged. The two rights. So the first had been coming to Avalon.

"Hermione, what's the second right of passage?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." She said mater-o-factly. Harry was a bit taken aback.

"You know 'mione I don't think I have ever heard you say that before!" Harry said with a grin. Hermione gave him a push and he staggered in the sand laughing.

"Very few people have ever been to Avalon. And most that come here never tell anyone about it. I am sure we could find out in the Great Library though." Hermione said with a smile. Harry's eyes went wide with a sudden fear and Hermione broke out with a case of the uncontrollable giggles.

---

When they arrived back at the castle they found no one waiting for them other than the guards at the door who gave them only a passing glance.

"I am sure we can find our way." Harry said as he headed for the passageway at the end of the entrance hall. They passed by the great hall, which was almost empty with only a few Seraphim at the tables still.

"Looks like we missed dinner." Harry said not really knowing whether he was thankful or not. If dinner was anything like breakfast than he was glad he would not have to endure it tonight.

They continued to wander but every hallway looked the same every staircase seemed to take them to an identical floor, or for all that Harry could tell the same floor.

"I think we're lost." Hermione finally said.

"Everything looks the same, how did Aura even have a clue where she was going." As though Harry had summoned her up Aura appeared with a pop next to them.

"You called?" She said smiling.

"No actually." Harry began, her smile began to fade. "But we sure could use some help. Everything looks the same. We are trying to get back to our rooms." Her smile returned.

"Well of course it looks the same! You keep going to the same floor." Aura said. Harry and Hermione exchanged blank looks.

"We've been up 12 flights of stairs and your saying we're still on the same floor?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yes. The left sides go up but the right sides go to the same floor." Aura explained.

"What?" Harry asked. Hermione shrugged obviously not understanding ether. Aura giggled and moved over to the stairs. She pointed to the right side of the stairs leading up.

"Go up these and we will see you at the top." Aura said with a smile. Harry and Hermione looked at each other than the stairs. Harry shrugged and headed up when he reached the top he found only another long seemingly endless passageway but no one standing there. "Go on we will wait for you here." Aura called from behind him.

Harry wasn't sure how this was going to work after all he was walking away from them. The passageway didn't curve it just kept going and after a minute walk he spotted two figures at the end of the hallway, looking up the stairs. Harry couldn't believe it, it was impossible. He had gone up a floor and walked away from them yet a moment latter he was standing next to Hermione and Aura again.

"I think that has to be the strangest thing I have ever done." Harry said. Hermione jumped and Aura smiled.

"But, how?" Was all Hermione could manage.

"Like I said the left side goes up and the right side goes to the same floor." Aura said with a smile. "I will take you to your rooms, follow me please." Moving up the left side to the stairway and Harry and Hermione followed here careful to walk the same path she had. When they came to the top the hallway they were in finally looked different. This time she led them up the right side of the stairs and moved to the fourth door down the hall.

"This is your room." Aura said.

"Mine or Hermione's?" Harry asked. Aura giggled.

"Both silly." Hermione shot a startled glance at Aura and than at Harry.

"Err I don't think that…" Harry began.

"Thanks." Hermione said cutting him off with a smile in her voice. "We'll be fine." Aura bowed and then vanished with a soft pop. "Come on Harry." Harry stood with his mouth hanging open.

"Uh 'mione, I don't think I should." Harry tried again.

"Boys," Hermione sighed. "Look its not like we are sleeping together, just in the same room. Now put your hormones in check and let's go." Hermione said in a huff well she opened the door.

The room was nothing like the one Harry had awoken in that morning. No book cases lined any wall and the ceiling was much closer to the ground, the appropriate height. The first room had a fireplace on the right wall and two comfortable looking leather couches placed in a half circle around it, with a table between them. A desk sat against the left wall.

The back wall furthest from the front door had two large windows in it and another door between them. Three other doors led off the room, one on the left wall one on the right wall and the one between the two windows.

The door on the right led to the wash room. It was very lavish with a large marble bathtub and gold lined counter tops.

The door on the far left led to a bed room with two double beds complete with curtains and two large wardrobe cabinets. The third door was locked and didn't seem to go anywhere. There was no visible lock ether. It just didn't open.

"Well," Hermione said eyeing Harry." I call the right one!" she shouted jumping onto it from the doorway and squealing with delight at the bouncyness. Her bed was closest to the window. Harry couldn't help but smile.

---

Harry was shooed out into the living room well Hermione close the doors to change into pajamas. Harry slumped down onto the couch feeling extremely tired. From inside the pocket of his robe he could feel a vibrating feeling. Harry pushed his hand in to find the smooth surface of the mirror and something rough pressed against it. He pulled out the mirror and the second object.

The second object was a half a circle of stone with lettering Harry was sure he had never seen before. The stone had been broken and looked like it might have once been half of a larger circle. Not sure when he had acquired it Harry ignored it, setting it aside on the couch well her looked into the Mirror, a moment later Ron's face appeared.

"Oy, Harry you there?" Ron asked.

"Hey mate!" Harry said back, his tiredness seeming to fade at the sight of his friend's face.

"Where've you been? I been trying to reach you mosta the day!" Ron said, his face screwed up in mock anger. Harry wasn't sure where to begin, or how much he could say over the mirror. Ron seemed to spot this or know that Harry was thinking about what Ron had said to him last time.

"We don't have to worry about being eaves dropped on. We're at a house in the wizard village of Kaz'modan." Ron said excitedly. "We were kinda on the move last night so I couldn't talk long.

"Harry it's a wicked house. I got this huge room like you wouldn't believe. You gotta come over and visit. I'm sure mum wont mind, and you can stay till summer is over!" Harry smiled. He was happy for his friend and sad at the same time, the burrow had been a magnificent house and he was sad that it had been destroyed by Voldemort. But at the same time he was happy, Ron's room had always been small. Harry's smile grew broader, and idiotic grin crossing his face.

"Oy, what's that grin about!" Ron shouted.

"Your not gona believe where I am." Harry said and he launched into the story of fighting the Death Eaters, though he omitted certain parts of the events in the burrow, and all the things that had happened so far on Avalon. By the time he finished Ron's jaw was hanging.

"I can't believe I missed all that!" Ron shouted furiously when Harry had finished. "The Order has been right quite about you and mum won't say anything to us. And I thought I was having all the adventures! Last night Order members started popping up at our house and told us we had to leave. Tonks gave me this mirror and said to leave one behind for you. Me, mum and Ginny spent most of last night moving from place to place." Ron leaned closer to the mirror as though he didn't want anyone to hear. "An Ginny's been in a right state about you. Blimey I have never seen her so upset. Every other minute it's, 'do you think Harry's okay?' 'mum shouldn't we check in on Harry?' I swear some times I think she's a nutter." Harry couldn't help but smile. "So where's 'mione at?" Ron asked.

"I think she's asleep." Harry said Ron looked disappointed. "I could go check if you want." Ron's face began to turn red.

"Oy!" He cried. "You don't gotta wake her up for me!" His face, if possible, turned even redder. And Harry unable to control it burst out in laughter. The door to the bedroom opened a moment later. Hermione stood in a pink nightgown looking at Harry as though he had gone crazy.

"Oy!" Harry cried, "Ron wants to say hi!" Harry said holding up the mirror and waving it. Hermione's eyes lit up and she came over taking the mirror from Harry.

"Hello Ronald." Hermione said fixing him with a stair. Harry's eyes were watering and he felt another round of laughter coming on. Staggering he got up from the couch leaving Hermione to talk to Ron alone, well he went to change into his pajamas.

---

Harry couldn't remember falling asleep. But he knew he had to be. After all this couldn't be real. No he was sure it wasn't. He looked over to his side to see Cedric, the Tri-Wizard cup still in his hand. Harry looked around panicked now. This memory, this dream was the one above all others that he feared the most. A moment later Wormtail appeared.

"Kill the spare!" A shrill high pitched voice cried out. Green light shot out from the tip of Wormtail's wand and hit Cedric, he fell the ground dead. Harry whipped out his wand pointing it at Wormtail.

"_Crucio_!" Harry shouted. Wormtail fell to the ground convlusing. An evil smile of satisfaction came to Harry's lips. He felt a power surging through him a power like he had never felt before. Moving across the ground he came to a sickly child laying in blankets. A women stepped out and grabbed the child.

"No!" She cried. "No, not Harry! Not Harry!" She shouted. Harry pointed his wand at her and green light flew from it, killing the women. Now only the child remained. This would be quick, this would be it. There would be no prophecy. It ended here, tonight! Harry thought.

He pointed his wand at the child who looked up at him with bright green eyes.

"_Avada_ _Kedavra_!" Harry shouted. But, NO! Something was wrong the spell hadn't worked. To Harry's fear he realized what he was seeing. Lord Voldemort towering over him his wand out stretched. The green light wrapping around him trying to find a way to get into him. And then he, Voldemort fell to the floor dead.

---

Harry sat up in bed breathing hard. His scar was on fire. A pain like he had never felt burned in his head, like someone driving a red hot knife into his brain. Blurry eyed he rolled out of bed, his hand fumbling for his glasses shoving them on his face he stumbled to the door.

"Harry? Harry what's wrong?" Hermione cried in a concerned voice. Stumbling across the living room he made it to the bathroom one hand turned the fosset for cold water and he began to splash it on his face. The pain was starting to dim and his sight was begging to come back. Behind him he heard Hermione gasp as he looked up into the mirror. The scar on his forehead was newly cut with blood. He looked down at his hands to find them mixed with blood and water. The white sink had splatterings of blood on it as well.

Hermione chanted something and then moving up behind him she pulled bandages over the cut blood soaked through just as she began the second wrap.

When at last she tied it off Harry felt her lean heavily against him.

"Thanks 'mione." Harry said. She put her arms around him in a very motherly hug. Gently he took one of her hands and gave it a squeeze. "Let's get back to sleep." Hermione helped him back to his bed and removed his glasses before she moved back over to her own bed. It wasn't long before he heard her soft breathing and occasional snore.

Harry, despite being incredibly tired however did not go back to sleep. He lay awake looking at the ceiling and for the first time in a long time he felt very, very frightened.

---

Harry wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep again. The light coming from the window hurt his eye. What time was it? How long had he been asleep? Harry pushed his glasses on to find the bed next to him empty. Hermione was gone.

Harry got up dressed and checked the rest of the apartment for her. But he could not find her. As Harry was about to leave to start looking for her he heard a knock from the door. But not the door he was just about to leave though, the locked door between the two windows at the back of the apartment.

Curious Harry walked over to it and pulled it open, surprised that it was not locked. A white flutter passed by him.

"Hedwig !" Harry cried overjoyed to see his owl here. After circling around a few times she swooped down and landed deftly on the couch. Clasped in her claw was a letter. Harry let go of the door, it closed soundlessly as he headed over to Hedwig . He ran his hand gently down the back of her head feeling her smooth white feathers beneath his fingers. "It's good to see you." Harry smiled. Hedwig hooted contently.

Harry reached down and took the letter from her claw. To his surprise he had not one letter but three! Harry looked at the name on the first letter. It was from Dumbledore. Harry frowned. He knew this letter would be coming but, he didn't want to read it, he didn't much care for what Dumbledore had to say right now. Harry tossed the letter aside and felt his eyes go wide at the next name, Ginny Weasley. Harry froze looking at the letter.

What on earth could she be writing to him about? Harry remembered the last time he had gotten a letter from her, the get well card that wouldn't stop singing. Cautiously as though he thought the letter might explode he set it aside.

He looked at the last letter in his hand and he felt him mouth go dry. It couldn't be. It was impossible. Harry felt his hands tremble, he felt a lump well up in his throat. The name 'Sirius Black' appeared on the upper corner of the envelop.

Harry ripped the envelope pulling off small chunks of the flap at a time and cursing how hard it was to get these stupid things open. When at last the remains of the envelope littered the floor Harry held in his hand a folded piece of parchment. Slowly, carefully as if the letter was a thousand years old he unfolded it and small shinny gold object dropped into his lap. Seeing the writing Harry instantly recognizing it as Sirius's.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm sorry_…

Harry's eyes stopped here for a long time as his brain filled in the rest of the words for him "that I had to pretend I was dead." "That I had to go back into hiding." Every time Harry went to read on his brain seemed not to read the words but rather to give him what he wanted to see.

Finally Harry closed his eyes he could feel tears on his face. He took a few long breaths then opened his eyes and started again.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm sorry that this letter will find you at time that is filled with grief. If you have received this letter then it means I'm dead. I want you to know Harry that whatever happened, whatever the reason, it's not your fault._

_I chose my own path, I knew it would be dangerous. I might be gone but I am still with you, just like your mom and dad. We will always be with you as long as you don't forget us._

_Enclosed you will find a key to the Black Family vault. It's not much but It's yours Harry. I know it wont make up for losing me but it's all I have left to give you. You'll find some things you might find useful in there._

_Sincerely, Sirius_

Harry reread the letter several times. Each time hopping to find more. How could Sirius write so calmly about his own death? How could he tell Harry it wasn't his, Harry's, fault? After all Sirius couldn't have known he was going to die in the Ministry of Magic. Couldn't have known it was Harry that would bring him there.

Harry set the letter down on the table watching it in disbelief waiting for something, anything to happen to it. But the letter sat there, the ink shinning in the light of the fire. Hedwig hooted softly breaking Harry from the trance of the letter.

Harry smiled at Hedwig and pulled the next letter up from the couch where he had set it. Harry still felt uneasy. He was unsure if he could read another letter right now. Reluctantly he pulled off the top of the envelope having much less trouble this time and pulled out the folded parchment inside.

The letter was in Ginny's neat handwriting and thankfully it didn't sing to him.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hermione and I had a talk last night about your dreams._

Harry frowned.

_She is really concerned for you and so am I. I have never told anyone about this, but I still have dreams about Tom. Sometimes I feel like he hasn't really gone like he is still here inside me. It's very frightening._

_I know what you're going though. If you need someone to talk to about it I am willing to listen. I have fought it for three years now. I do know what it feels like._

_This hasn't been an easy letter for me to write. I haven't ever told anyone this before. But as I write this I feel an incredible feeling of relief. I want to help you Harry. I think we can help each other. I kept it bottled up for too long, you shouldn't have to too._

_Love Sincerely, Ginny Weasley._

Harry could make out the world 'Love' crossed out many times as though it had been removed and added over and over and finally removed. Harry felt awkward. He didn't like that Hermione had talked to Ginny about his dreams. How much had Hermione told her?

But the letter made a lot of sense in a strange kind of a way. He had always, to his regret now that he thought about it, largely ignored Ginny. Not on purpose of course, she was only one year younger than he was and… Harry's thoughts trailed off. There was another reason, a reason he hadn't even admitted to himself. But Ginny's letter had talked about it so bluntly that he could hear his mind screaming it.

'The real reason you avoid her is because all you see when you look at her is Tom Riddle.' Harry's mind blurted out before he could stop it. He knew it was true.

Harry had distanced himself from Ginny for so many reasons. The awkwardness of her crush, the fact that she was a year younger and a girl, that she was Ron's little sister and other reasons he couldn't really explain.

He felt uncomfortable now. Though Ginny's letter had brought him comfort about his dreams it had opened a whole new door of worries to him. Things he didn't want to face or think about at the moment.

And the last line in the letter. The word love crossed out over and over. It had just been a mistake, hadn't it? Her hands on automatic when she had signed it? But Harry couldn't shake the feeling it was more than that.

Harry remembered Hermione talking about how Ginny had gotten over Harry. When he had heard it he was glad but now that he reflected on it he seemed to recalled he had been a little disappointed as well, though he couldn't recall if that was really the case.

Harry began to set the letter aside when he realized that he had almost put Ginny's letter on top of Sirius's. Harry paused and set Ginny's letter next to it instead.

Harry looked for the last letter wondering where he had tossed it. As he stood to search something fell out of his lap and onto the floor. Picking it up he saw it was a small golden key. Harry closed his hand around it and pushed it into his pocket. That was something he didn't want, more money.

After a short search he found Dumbledore's letter under the couch. Harry pulled it haphazardly open and unfolded the parchment.

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_Your Uncle is all right and is recovering. Voldemort's attack on you has struck a devastating blow to the Ministry of Magic as many of their own wizards were put under the Imperious curse and used in the attack._

_Oberon is wise, listen carefully to any advice he has to give you. For your own safety I would recommend that you remain on Avalon till the end of the summer._

_I also encourage you to continue practicing your Occlumancy. I have asked Professor Snape to contact you. You should hear from him tonight._

_Albus Dumbeldore_

_Head Master of Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry_

Harry wasn't sure what to feel about this letter. He wasn't sure if he was happy or sad that his Uncle Vernon had lived or not. Nor did he really care about the Ministry of Magic, with the exception of the wizards involved. After all it wasn't their fault that Fudge was incompetent.

But Snape contacting him to give Occlumancy homework over the summer. Without realizing it Harry had balled up the letter and without even a second thought he tossed it into the fire.

* * *

Notes from the Author:

Thank you reader for completing chapter 3 of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil. I hope you enjoyed it!

(for those of you that skipped to the end, '_magicus hidus Authors notes_!' they will only appear after you read the story in full, so there!)

This was a hard chapter to write. It has gone through many revisions and reworks to better encompass its part in the story.

Even when posted I will say this might not be the final revision. But after reading it countless times I have to say its pretty much where I want it. And if I dwell to long here who will finish the rest of the story!

Quickly Authorman to the writing cave!

Next chapter coming soon!


	4. – Past, Present and Future

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 4 – Past, Present and Future

Harry wasn't sure how long he sat on the couch, staring between Sirius's and Ginny's letters. He knew of course that he couldn't respond to Sirius's letter but could he write back to Ginny? He didn't know about that either. Every time he tried to think of what to say his mind just blanked after 'Dear Ginny.' It sounded so strange.

Harry was startled out of his daze by the sound of the door opening. Quickly he grabbed the letters, folded them and pushed them into the space in-between the cushions.

Hermione's face appeared in the door. She was carrying two plates of food and a large leather-bound book under one arm. Harry smiled weakly at her, hoping she wouldn't notice he was concealing something. She smiled back and walked over setting the plates down on the table precariously well keeping the book under her arm from sliding out.

Harry looked at the plate filled with food and became aware of just how hungry he real was. The last meal he had eaten was breakfast, the pervious morning and he hadn't eaten much.

Thankfully the plate Hermione had brought held much more appetizing food. Hermione beamed as she watched him eat.

"Feeling better?" She asked after watching him for a while. Harry nodded.

"'hanks 'monee." Harry said through a mouth filled with food. Hermione taped her wand on the table and pulled it up as though unzipping the air. Rippling into existence was a cup filled with pumpkin juice. Harry nodded again in thanks as he washed down the food clogging his mouth.

"So where've you been all day?" Harry asked, a chicken wing clasped between his hands ready to be devoured well Hermione answered the question, though Harry was fairly sure he already knew what the answer was.

"Well first I was going to wait for you," Hermione began. "But you looked like you weren't going to be up any time soon so I went and found the Great Library of Avalon. I also found this really interesting book!" Hermione said with a glowing face as she held up the book leather book she had brought with her.

"But I think we have something more important to talk about first." Hermione said her face suddenly becoming very serious. Harry felt a wave of panic, it wasn't possible, she couldn't know about Sirius's letter. She seemed to know everything, but that was just impossible, wasn't it?

Hermione held up two white envelopes, on the front they had shinning blue letters with Harry and Hermione's names on them.

Harry took his and read the return address,

_Ministry of Magic_,

_O.W.L.S Examinations Office_,

_The Desk of Millia Madra Head Examiner_

Harry felt his stomach drop out and for a moment wished Hermione had instead asked about Sirius's letter. Hermione held up her's.

"I haven't opened mine yet, I thought we could do it together." She said with a smile. This was the last thing Harry wanted. What if he opened his and found all Dreadful's and Hermione had 30 Outstanding's or some impossibly outrageous number.

"Ready? On three!" Hermione said. Harry's hands, despite what his brain was shouting, moved automatically as if Hermione had put him under the Imperious Curse. "One, Two, Three!" Hermione pulled hers open and Harry, having some trouble finally managed to do the same. Hermione was looking over her sheet a content smile on her face.

Slowly, carefully Harry unfolded his own letter.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_These are the results of the Ordinary Wizarding Levels you participated in during the month of May._

_Astronomy:A_

_Care of Magical Creatures:O_

_Charms:O_

_Defense against the Dark Arts: O+_

_Divination:A_

_Herbology:E_

_History of Magic:D_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

_For your exceptional performance in your Defense against the Dark Arts Examination you would normally be considered for an apprentice post of Auror during your summer vacation_

_However due to a number of circumstances this award has been declined by the Minster of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, under section 5.7.2 of the magical law pertaining to underage wizards._

_Enclosed you will find a pin for your exceptional performance._

_Sincerely, _

_Ellina Redoric_

_Secretary to the Head of O.W.L.S Examinations Office_

Harry let out a sigh of relief. Turning the envelope on its side a silver pin rolled out with the letters "DADA+" on it.

He hadn't done incredible but he hadn't completely failed as he first thought. The Dreadful in history of magic was expected but unwelcome as he knew instantly that Hermione would be all over him about it.

Hermione was looking at him expectantly.

"Well?" She asked finally.

"It's not bad, I got an O in Care of Magic Creatures, Charms, DADA, Potions and Transfiguration." Hermione's lip tightened.

"And?" She pressed.

"I did okay in the other subjects. How about you?" Harry asked, wishing the next moment he hadn't. He didn't want to compare himself to Hermione. She glowed almost as bright as the sun.

"Well I got an O in everything." She said her face turning red. Harry raised an eyebrow. "And I got this neat little pin!" She held up a silver pin that said "12OWLS."

"Everything?" Harry asked knowing it was full well possible, even if he wasn't prepared for the truth. Hermione turned her paper around so that Harry could see.

_Ancient Runes:O_

_Arithmancy:O_

_Astronomy:O_

_Care of Magical Creatures:O_

_Charms:O_

_Defense against the Dark Arts: O_

_Herbology:O_

_History of Magic:O_

_Muggle Studies:O_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: O+_

Harry saw it but he couldn't believe it. He felt for a moment like he was looking at her schedule from their third year.

"But, 'mione I thought you dropped some of these classes?" Harry asked.

"Oh well I asked professor McGonagall if I could attempt the O.W.L.S for them and she said there didn't seem to be any reason why I couldn't, since I had taken all of the subjects before." Harry was still in shock and disbelief.

"I wonder what Ron got?" Hermione asked as she turned her paper back around to read it again. Harry sighed, desperate to change the subject he looked to the only other object in the room.

"So what's with the book?" Harry asked nodding to the large leather-bound book sitting on the table. It looked very old and very heavy. Red lettered words were scrawled across the front in some ancient form of handwriting that Harry could not decipher upside-down.

Hermione set the paper with her O.W.L.S aside and reach for the book. Carefully, as though opening it to quickly might cause the pages to turn to dust, Hermione pulled the covers away from each other so that the book rested open at about its middle.

To Harry's surprise and for a moment horror, the pages were blank. He looked up at Hermione who was still smiling. Gently she tapped her wand against the page and said, "food summoning spell."

Letters began to appear all over the page, list of words began to bleed through onto the discolored parchment. Harry eyed the book with suspicion; this wasn't his first encounter with a book that wrote itself. Hermione seeing this on Harry's face deduced what he was thinking with startling accuracy.

"Don't worry it's nothing like Tom Riddle's diary. This magic book is sort of a giant collection of spells." Hermione's eyes glowed brightly. "You just ask it what you want to find and the books shows you everything matching the question. There are also loads of other facts in it. Like the water pool we found yesterday, it's called the Moonwell. The liquid inside is used to make pensives." Harry nodded his brain not fully taking in everything Hermione was saying. He sort of wanted her to go away so he could go back to deciding what to do about his letters.

"But most importantly it was able to tell me about this!" Hermione said with a gleam of, what seemed to Harry, uncontrollable insanity in her eyes. Hermione held up the half of the circle stone with the strange writing engraved on it. "It was almost impossible to find. Lucky I took ancient runes so I had a good idea of where to start at." Harry nodded slightly as he recognized the stone as the one he had pulled from his pocket last night. He must have left it on couch and Hermione must have found it.

"I was able to translate some of it, it's a language called Iltailus." Hermione continued. "This part," she said pointing at some of the strange shaped letters along the outside of the stone, "say 'invetus mel narus' or 'in the head of stones,' maybe 'in the house of rocks.' And this part," she continued excitedly pointing to the next set of runes. "Says something about 'trigona almor seltros demor'at' or," she closed her eyes for a second and whispered to herself. "'in front of', or maybe 'after,' something, I couldn't find a translation for the word 'seltros' though." Harry looked at her puzzled.

"So what is it talking about?" Harry asked. "What does it mean?" Hermione smiled.

"Well according to this book this stone marker is part of a puzzle that guides you to the entrance to the tomb of King Arthur!" Hermione finished excitedly. "We are missing the other half but if we can find it we can find the tomb!" Not seeing a smile or a nod or any reaction at all from Harry, Hermione pressed him. "What's wrong Harry?"

"It's nothing." Harry said dully. Yesterday, before the letters he might have jumped at the idea of a treasure hunt but right now. "'mione what exactly did you tell Ginny about my dreams?" Harry blurted out not thinking about what he was saying. Hermione's eyes widened a bit.

"Oh, well…" Hermione said tentatively judging Harry's reaction. "Last night after you went to bed Ginny sort of found Ron talking on the mirror and insisted that she speak with you. I told her you were already asleep. So we just kind of talked for a while and I was explaining what had happened and she said something about the dream in the corridor being familiar." Hermione finished out of breath. "She said she'd sort of had the same dream too. Did you talk with her well I was gone?" Hermione asked, her face now flushed with wisps of red.

Harry sat for a moment mixed feeling on his face. At first he had been angry at Hermione for telling Ginny such personal information without asking him first. But now he was fighting with himself. He wasn't sure if he was angry or not. Part of him was extremely glad that she had told someone else for him. But part of him was angry that of all the people she could have shared it with why had she picked Ginny?

"I'm sorry Harry I didn't think you…" Hermione began. Harry held up a hand.

"It's alright." Harry said simply. Then he reached down into the crevasse of the couch and pulled out the letters. He looked between them and then handed Ginny's letter to Hermione and put Sirius's folded letter down on his lap. Hermione read over the letter and then smiling handed it back to Harry.

"I thought you might have gotten a letter." Hermione said looking over at Hedwig who Harry had completely forgotten was there. He pulled a piece of bacon off his plate and handed it to her. She hooted thankfully before plucking it from his fingers.

"Who is the other letter from?" Hermione asked seeing the folded letter in Harry's lap. Harry suddenly felt uneasy.

"Sirius." Harry said his voice cracking. Why had she asked about it? It wasn't any of her business. Harry felt sadness welling up inside him again. "I, I don't want to talk about it." Harry said placing Ginny's letter on top of it. Hermione got the point and changed topics quickly.

"This book also has other things in it. Facts, stories and spells!" Hermione said as she taped the page with her wand making the information vanish. "You can practically learn anything out of it. It even teaches the unforgivable curses." Hermione said and then she ran an uneasy hand through her hair as if she had just said something she hadn't meant to.

"I don't really want to learn those." Harry said darkly.

"Well that's not the point!" Hermione replied. "But no I guess you wouldn't know." She said more to herself than to Harry. "That's sort of the real reason I brought it along. See this book has an enchantment on it. The spells in it cannot be copied. You can only learn from the book then you have to willingly teach them to someone else. Until Voldemort came here no one knew the killing curse, or any of the unforgivable curses. Voldemort most likely learned them and taught them to his Death Eaters." Hermione said in a fluster.

"What?" Harry asked in shock. "You don't mean that if Voldemort had never come here he… he couldn't have killed my parents?" Harry finished, a rage building inside him.

"Well, I don't know." Hermione said uncomfortably. "It contains almost the whole of wizard knowledge and there are other spells that can kill."

"Maybe it has a counter curse to Avada Kedavra." Harry said quickly, his mind racing. "Or something that can bring people back from the dead?" As if the book had heard him the pages blanked and a short list of words appeared on the page.

Hermione looked at Harry and then down at the book.

"Accio Cadaver, Revevissance, Animatica Mortius, True Resurrection, Phoenix Down, Maticus Animagius" Hermione read and then looked up at Harry. She tapped the first word with her wand. The pages of the book flipped wildly and came to rest near the start of the book. In the top corner the word Accio appeared and text began to fill out under it. Harry watched as Hermione read the words quickly.

"I don't think this is what you meant," She said after a long moment of reading. "Bringing back or summoning the dead to you. But not brining them back to life." She taped the book and the pages spun back to the short list. The first word crossed itself off. Hermione tapped the next word.

Again the book spun. After a moment of reading Hermione announced that this spell could only recover someone that was near death, not dead. It was also very difficult to cast and often didn't work. Harry shook his head.

Hermione repeated the process. Animatica Mortius was an animation spell for corpses, giving them no life, and no minds. Hermione didn't even have to look up at Harry to know it was the wrong spell.

Finally they arrived at the spell called True Resurrection. The title sounded promising.

"There are three type of True Resurrection," Hermione read. "Ritual, Self and Divine. The Ritual of resurrection requires one Diamond of 1000 Galleon or more value, something of the person to be resurrected," Hermione paused as her eyes read on, Harry was able to read a very long list of items and could make out, 'blood, skin, bone, organs, fingers, eye…'

Harry felt a bit sick. "It goes on to list all things that can be used. A rune symbol drawn in the blood of the caster and…" Hermione paused again. "A soul to be sacrificed in exchange for the person being resurrected." Harry felt his heart sink. "Upon completion of the spell a soul exchange will take place swapping the souls in the person sacrificed for the person being resurrected." Hermione skipped down the page.

Harry already knew this spell was worthless he would never trade one life for another, even if the life was Malfoy for his parents. Harry thought about it. For a moment he seriously considered if that was true, given the chance would he sacrifice Malfoy for his parents?

"The second form of True Resurrection is Self. Only once, in all of recorded history has anyone ever preformed the right of True Resurrection on themselves after death. No theory or explanation of how this was accomplished has ever been explained. Ohhh, that doesn't help." Hermione skipped further down the page. "The third and final form of True Resurrection is Divine, accomplished by Merlin in a battle with the dark wizard Tromedlov, Merlin was reported to say after the battle that he was sent back and told it was not his time." Hermione finished and looked up at Harry. "I don't think any of these would be of any use to us." Harry had to agree though the thought of sacrificing Malfoy was still very tempting to him.

Hermione tapped the book and it spun back to the list. All but two of the spells had been crossed out. She tapped the second to last one.

"The Phoenix Down Potion," Hermione read. "This potion requires," she read off a list of items, "a tail feather of a Phoenix, willingly given, and a drop of blood from the person receiving the potion. Once drunk the person will be restored to full health from any aliment, even death. However the Phoenix who gave the tail feather will die and not be reborn, giving up its immortality to heal." Harry could think of only one Phoenix and he would never even consider Fawks for such a task. Hermione tapped the book again and now only one spell remained.

She tapped the last spell and the book whirled to almost the end.

"Maticus Animagius," Hermione read and then she was silent for a long while well she read on.

"Well?" Harry final asked. His last hope of a spell that could bring his parents, Sirius and Cedric back to life seemed to be slipping away.

"This can't be right, I'm not sure why the book turned to this spell it has nothing to do with bringing anyone back from anywhere." Hermione said shaking her head. "It's just the instructions on how to become and Animagus." Hermione continued to read as though she couldn't believe that any book could make such a strange mistake. She placed her finger on it as she turned the pages and for a long time Harry watched her.

It seemed like hours had passed when he finally spoke up in frustration.

"So?" Harry asked. Hermione jumped and looked up at Harry as though only just noticing he was there.

"I don't know really. I still haven't found a reason why this spell was in the list but…" Hermione said. "I did find some other interesting things out about Animagus that I didn't know before and…" Harry stood up and Hermione stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Harry said unable to hide the anger in his voice. "I need a walk, that's all." And without so much as a goodbye he crossed the room and left.

---

The sun was waning as Harry stepped outside the castle. Most of the day was gone already. That was it than, there was no way to bring someone back who had died.

'No way you are willing to take.' A voice whispered from next to him. Harry jumped in surprise. Looking over he found with horrible shock Ron sitting on the stone steps. But something wasn't right. He seemed not to fully be there as though he was a ghost. And for a moment Harry couldn't remember who it was that was on this island with him, Ron or Hermione.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked. The ghost like image of Ron seemed to become more tangible. A stupid grin crossed his face.

'You said you wanted to go for a walk and I found something really neat, com'on Harry!' Ron said. Harry felt awkward as Ron approached. His mind seemed blurry.

Hurrying away, Harry followed him down the steps. Harry followed as though in a daze. Halfway down the stairs they stopped and Ron darted off into the trees. Harry wasn't sure how long they jogged for. Only that the forest had become eerily dark. Finally they stopped.

"Where… are we going… Ron?" Harry asked between hard breaths. Ron turned on him and his features seemed to blur. His nose elongated and his hair turned black and greasy. He became taller and… Harry gasped, it was Snape!

"I warned you Potter," Snape hissed. "I told you not to come back here." What was he talking about? They were out in the middle of a forest, no where near the third-floor corridor. Harry suddenly realized that was exactly where they were. The door stood closed at the end of the hall.

"What?" Harry gasped. He was losing his grip on reality, was he asleep? Was this the horrible nightmare?

"I said," Snape hissed. "That I told you to practice you Occlumancy and yet it appears you have not." Snape looked around.

"This isn't real this has to be a dream." Harry said to Snape.

"It is a dream Potter." Snape hissed coldly. "I told the Headmaster, you would leave your mind vulnerable, that you would not practice." Harry gasped. This was Snape, the real Snape. "Lagilamancy works poorly at a distance. But even I am surprised how easy it was for me to lure you here. What if it had been the Dark Lord instead of me attacking your mind tonight?" Snape sneered. Then he looked around slowly examining the walls.

"An interesting projection." Snape said examining the corridor. "Tell me Potter why this place is important to you? Why is it that we appear here?"

Harry was unsure how to answer this, he didn't know and Snape was the last person he wanted to discuss it with.

"Your dreams are your biggest weakness, starting here is perhaps the best place for us. If I am not mistaken this is the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side." Snape said and then he spotted, leaning against the far wall next to the door, himself. Snape glared at Harry but did not say anything. Instead he walked over to himself and knelt down.

"Do you even try to protect yourself against these dreams?" Snape hissed. Harry blinked. "Or do you wish so fondly for the Dark Lord to enter your mind that you destroy every means of protection your mind creates?"

"What'da you mean?" Harry asked stupidly. His scar was starting to burn. He wanted Snape to leave. He wanted this dream or whatever it was to end. But this didn't feel like a dream and Harry had the sinking felling it wasn't going to end soon.

"Where is the key this Guardian should have been carrying?" Snape snapped suddenly. "You didn't open this door?" Harry felt taken aback, how could Snape possibly know that? Snape moved quickly back in front of Harry. His eyes boring into him.

"This place," Snape said slowly, "Is what your Occlumancy training is for. The walls, and the door are of your minds construction." Snape pointed at the wall next to Harry, a few of the bricks were cracked one was even missing. "This is the doorway into your mind. You neglect its protection. Even now I stand here as proof of your inability to defend yourself." Harry suddenly felt cold, the air seemed to be pressing down on him and other memories began to surface. Harry closed his eyes. "Fight me," Snape snarled coldly.

Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Snape. He muttered something, unsure what and for a moment Snape flickered. The memories stopped replaying and Snape took a step back. He had a look of mild surprise.

"That was," Snape said in a shocked voice. "very good." Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. Snape stood there for a long moment but didn't seem to attack again. "We are done! Be warned Potter that if I find a way, back into your mind, our next encounter shall be less, pleasant!" Snape snarled and with a wave of his hand he vanished. Harry stood alone in the corridor having no idea what had just happened.

Then he heard the sound of stone being moved against stone. Looking over he could see the missing brick in the wall sliding itself back into place. A moment latter the third-floor corridor vanished and he stood in the forest. The sky was dark and Harry knew it was night.

---

Harry turned and began to jog back towards the castle. What was he doing out here in this forest anyways? He recalled something about Ron and Snape. Had he fallen asleep and walked out here? He couldn't remember it all seemed a bit fuzzy.

Finally after what seemed like hours of wondering he reached the stone path. The moon was already overhead and Harry hurried towards the doors hoping he was not locked out for the night. When he reached the top of the stairs however he found the doorway open. Harry drew his wand. Something wasn't right here.

Cautiously he stepped inside.

"_Lumos_." He whispered, his wand tip remained dark. Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach that was the third time he had tried to cast magic and the third time it had failed. He moved through the entry way. On the floor he could see white bones and dimly glowing armor scattered about.

There were skeletons everywhere. This wasn't possible. He hadn't been gone that long. If the island had been attacked how could this have happened so quickly? Feeling his heart beating very fast Harry knelt and picked up a long silver bladed sword from the hand of one of the dead Seraphim in the entryway.

The moment he lifted the sword it began to glow with light and warmth. He held it out in front of him like a torch.

Hermione, he had to find her, had to make sure she was okay.

Cautiously he moved down the dark hallways. There was no one, the only light came from the glow of the sword. The paintings on the walls had been slashed, their occupants gone. The carpet had been torn and scorched with burn marks from spells.

Harry passed the dinner hall and saw upturned tables and more skeletons strewn about. A massive battle had taken place here but when, how long ago? Harry couldn't believe this was happening. Couldn't believe he had missed this. His brain would not accept it.

Maybe this wasn't real, maybe it was a dream or a vision or an illusion!

Not wanting to be tricked a second time he pressed his hand against the swords blade and felt its sharp edge, he released it with a pain in his palm. A thin line of blood cut his skin and his blood dripped from the bottom of his palm. Harry closed his hand tight his fingertips pressed against the painful cut.

This was real. He reached the stairs and careful to choose the right side ascended. He checked all the rooms along the floor but found no one. He proceeded to the next floor and again, no one. Even the apartment room, which had been thoroughly destroyed, he found no one.

It felt like hours later when at last he reached the top floor, where the stairs would go no higher. On this level there were no other doors, save for the large double doors at the end of the hall. The paintings here had also been torn, some had been ripped from the wall and smashed. Slowly, sword at the ready, he moved down the hallway.

Stopping before the large oaken double doors he turned to see, to his surprise, the painting of him and Hermione, hanging there, undamaged. But it was not the same as it had been.

Harry looked wild in the picture, his scar more evident then ever, his lips in a sneer. Hermione was still sitting in the chair worry on her face and deep lines beneath her eyes.

Harry searched for the shadow in the background, but there was none to be found. Instead the door in the painting had been opened; there was nothing behind it, only blackness.

Harry turned from the picture and pushed open the large double doors. The answers to all of this had to be in this room.

The bookcase against one wall had been burned, black ash sat on the shelves and scorch marks crawled up the wall alongside it. The opposite wall was bear except for some hanging pins. The gold face plates with the names were gone. The weapons were gone. This room had been plundered and burned.

Harry saw at the far end of the room someone sitting behind the desk. He brought the sword up clasping the hilt with both hands. He moved across the room to the person behind the desk. Holding up the sword he lit the room with its light. It took Harry almost a full 20 seconds to realize just what he was seeing. He gasped and dropped the sword, it clattered against the floor.

Sitting behind the desk was, Hermione, much, much older than was possible. She had her head down on a book and was breathing quietly but as the sword hit the floor she sat bolt upright and pointed her wand at Harry.

"Whose there?" She cried her wand tip pointed at Harry. "It… It can't be…" Hermione said, her wand falling from her fingers. "Harry?" She said her voice sounded chocked. She stood with lightning speed and moved around the desk. Harry took a step back but before he could move any further she had him in a bone crushing hug.

She was much taller than he was. In the dim glow of the light he could see her hair had turned partly gray and lost some of its bushiness. There were wrinkles on her soft face and her eyes looked tired and worn with time.

"I can't believe this! You can't be here but… but you are!" She cried crushing him even tighter.

"Hermione," Harry gasped. "You're crushing me." She released him from the hug but grabbed on of his hands as though she were afraid that if she let him go he would vanish. There were tears steaming down her face.

"What happened here what's going on?" Harry demanded. Hermione's eyes went wide.

"It was Him!" Hermione cried. "He-who-must-not-be-named! He came and he destroyed everything, Harry! He killed everyone." Fear overtook her face. "When he came to me he said, he said that I would stay here alone for the rest of time. Oh, Harry!" Hermione cried as she embraced him again. "I can't believe you're here! I can't believe your alive!"

"Hermione!" Harry said forcefully trying to pry himself loose. "When did this happen? I've only been gone for a few hours at the most. What happened to you?" Harry asked searching her almost unfamiliar face for answers.

Hermione went wide eyed.

"It doesn't matter." She said suddenly. Harry was about to protest. "I found it, I found the way to stop him, to stop this!" Hermione pulled Harry by the hand and lead him back over to the book. He read the title at the top of the page. "Maticus Animagius" the section of the book they had seen earlier.

"You were right Harry and you didn't even know it!" She pointed to one of the end lines. Harry read it.

'Maticus Animagius is the incantation used to induce the form of the Animagus transformation charm, much harder to perform is the magical derivation of this spell. In rare cases a wizard transformed by this spell can become a magical animal granting all the magical properties of that creature.'

Harry still didn't understand, this didn't have anything to do with what they were talking about earlier. How would being able to become a magical creature help him at all?

Harry looked up at her, confused. She pressed her finger against another paragraph. It was a list of names, the one her finger was pressed against was, 'Phoenix.'

"This is how you stop this Harry. You learn how to become a Phoenix, travel back in time and fight you-know-who!" Hermione said breathlessly. "When he comes to kill you he won't be able to because Phoenixes are reborn when they die! You can stop this, you can undo this!" Hermione cried. "I have spent the last 50 years working this through, you can do this Harry you can erase this future!" Hermione produced a small hour glass device.

"This is a time turner it will take you back!" Hermione pressed the hourglass into his hand Harry felt his fingers wrap around it.

"But I thought we aren't supposed to change time?" Harry said. Hermione cast him a scowl.

"How can you think about that, look around you, look what's happened? All our friends are dead. You-know-who is ruling the world. How can changing time make this any worse?" Hermione shouted angry.

"Hermione what's wrong with you!" Harry said. "Voldemort couldn't have done this to me?" Harry said, Hermione shivered at his name. Harry was taken aback. "You haven't had problems saying Voldemort's name for years now and…" Hermione hissed at him.

"I was a fool!" She said coldly. "And so are you. To think that we could do anything, to think you could do anything. When the time came you did nothing, just stood there afraid and weak! It's your fault! Maybe if you had even tried you could have won!" She snatched the time turner back from him and moved back to the book.

"Hermione." Harry said apologetically, but she didn't look up. "Hermione!" Harry said more loudly. Still she did not look at him. He moved to grab her shoulder but his hand passed through her as though she wasn't there. She faded like a ghost leaving him alone in the empty office.

---

There was movement behind him and Harry turned. His wand out, he was ready to attack. Oberon moved slowly across the room. As he walked the walls seemed to repair themselves. The weapons shimmered back onto the pegs the books reborn from ash. By the time Oberon had crossed the full length of the room it had all but been restored. Harry blinked as though it would all go away when he opened his eyes again. But the room remained and Oberon still stood before him.

"What's going on?" Harry asked his voice strained. "Am I back in the past? How did you survive the attack, this can't be…" Harry began. Oberon held up a hand.

"What you have seen was neither the future nor a vision of things to come." Oberon said offering a chair to Harry. Harry sat down in it, unsure if it would still be there when he came to rest upon it. "You have experienced something known as the journey of truth. Not all wizards who come here experience it but those who do each do so in their own way. It answers a personal question that you seek inside you." Oberon said as he moved behind his desk and sat in the chair there.

"How did that answer a question?" Harry shouted. "How is seeing everyone dead and Hermione…" Harry stopped furry was building in him now, "Hermione the way she was answer any question!" Harry said through gritted teeth. Oberon watched Harry but did not interrupt.

"What possible truth could I use from seeing Voldemort taking over the world and killing everyone that I love and care for?" Harry was breathing hard now. His mind trying to think of other things to shout at Oberon, this had been his doing hadn't it. Did he think Harry needed more tormenting? He was just as bad as Dumbledore was.

At last Oberon spoke.

"I cannot answer what question you have inside you. I cannot see your thoughts or read your mind. I can only tell you that Avalon showed you that which you most wanted to see." Harry stood, still angry. "The journey for truth is something we all seek in our lives. To understand what Avalon has shown you, you must understand what it is you are looking for. What question you want answered. Ask yourself Mr. Harry Potter, what question is most prominent in your mind."

"Thanks," Harry said dully and turned to leave.

"You will find also," Oberon said Harry halted willing himself for calm as his anger flared again. "That finding your question is not always the answer you are looking for." Harry said nothing as he took the last few steps out of the room the door closed behind him.

---

Harry leaned against the closed door for a long while, thinking. He didn't want to think, didn't want to feel. His mind kept bringing up horrible things he didn't want to remember, Sirius, Cedric, his parents.

Uncontrollably Harry began to cry. Tears ran down his face. He tried with all his might to make it stop. He didn't need to cry. He was a wizard, 'the most powerful wizard in the world!' Harry stopped crying, he wasn't sad anymore. He was afraid. What had that last thought been?

Movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention away. Harry pulled his wand as though expecting to be attacked.

There on the wall hung the painting of him and Hermione both waving and smiling at him as though they didn't have a care in the world. The door in the background was still shut and the shadow still on the wall.

Harry looked away closing his eyes for a moment. He slid is wand back into his pocket.

'I am getting as jumpy as Moody!' Harry thought. 'It wasn't a dream, it was an answer? An answer to a question?' But what question, right now there were so many questions racing around in his head he couldn't even imagine where to begin.

But he knew what the question was, even if he wouldn't admit it to himself. It was something he asked himself every day ever since he had heard the prophecy, no even before that. He couldn't remember how far back.

"Does anything I do matter?" He asked to the empty hallway. If the vision, journey, whatever the fuck it was, was any indication the answer was a resounding yes.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Tada chapter 4 and now for my next trick I will pull a rabbit out of my hat!

'looks in his hat' Um well okay… that's rather… 'throws the hat away with a distraught look on his face.' Maybe I should just continue working on the story instead?

This is the shortest chapter to date. I know what your thinking, short? OMFG you're crazy. But yeah it's shorter than I usually like to make them. However quantity is not quality!

As this goes up I am starting on chapter 7 so expect me to have 5 proofed and ready to go up as soon as I get some reviews!

Come on it only takes a min or two and it makes me feel important, not to mention help me improve my writing style.

Comment, questions, feedback? You bet I want to hear them all! Email or reviews are wealome D


	5. – Birthday for Talon

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 5 – Birthday for Talon

When Harry at last returned to the apartment he found Hermione, still looking at the book. She hadn't even noticed him enter. He stood at the door, holding it open in his hand, watching her for a long time. The color of her hair, her wrinkless face her youthful body. Harry felt his face go red as he realized where he was staring. Pulling his eyes away he shut the door, a bit more forcefully than he meant to.

Hermione sat up in surprise and looked over at Harry. He was a mess.

"My god Harry what happened to you?" She asked. "You've only been gone an hour!" Harry looked down to see his muddy shoes, the dirt on his arms and the cut in his hand.

"Nothin," Harry said. He felt like he had to talk to Ron, he reached into his pocket to find the mirror but it wasn't there, instead he felt a cold round stone. He pulled it out and saw it was a broken half of a stone circle. Hermione's eyes lit up.

"Harry!" She cried when she saw it. "Where'd you find that!" Harry looked at her with surprise as she hurried over to him carrying the other half he had pulled out of his pocket yesterday. She grabbed the new part out of his hands and pressed it together with the other half. The two parts didn't quite make a circle. Where each half connected they came to a point, and the runes didn't match up, there was still a part missing a strip down the middle.

Hermione began reading it to herself but stopped and looked at Harry.

"What wrong Harry?" She asked concern in her voice. Harry opened his mouth to say 'nothing' but before he could she fixed him with a stair and said, "and don't you say nothing." Harry closed his mouth again.

He wished, he wished he had someone to talk to about this. Hermione was his friend but, it just wasn't the same thing. His heart sank. Last year he could have written a letter to Sirius. Harry didn't even realize that he was crying until Hermione had taken his hand and led him to the couch. She vanished for a moment and then returned with a box of tissue. Harry pulled one and whipped his eyes.

Hermione sat with him, not asking for an answer or an explanation. Gently she took his hand and gave him a squeeze of encouragement. After a long while Hermione finally spoke up.

"Harry," She began he shot her a tear filled look, that said very much, 'I don't want to talk about it.' "I think you should talk about it with _someone_, if not with me than someone else."

'Who else?' Harry wanted to scream. 'Ron? Ha! Ron was a great friend but a bit dim in the area of anything outside Quidditch. Maybe Dumbledore, the old fool, or Loony Luna or Neville or or…'

Hermione was searching his eyes looking for an answer as she held his hands tightly. He blinked taking a long time before opening his eyes. Still seeming to be reading his thoughts she produced the mirror and placed it in his hand. Harry looked at her with uneasy eyes.

"She will listen to you Harry," Hermione said reassuringly. "She has listened to you for the last four years. The Weasley's are like your family Harry." Harry didn't need to be told this but was glad that someone had finally said it. Taking the Mirror from Hermione he held it in his shaking hands. Hermione stood gave him as strong a smile as she could manage and headed off into the bedroom to give him some privacy.

---

Harry looked into the mirror and waited. His mind was battling with itself. Hermione's voice floated back to him, 'she will understand,' 'she has listened to you for four years,' 'the Weasley's are you family.'

Harry looked down into the mirror taking a deep breath, a thought suddenly occurring to him.

How exactly did he use this thing? Someone else had always contacted him. He could only think of the first time in the night sky. Harry looked into the mirror and said, "Ginny, are you there?"

The surface of the mirror remained dark. Harry was just about to call again when Ron's face appeared in the mirror.

"Ginny?" Ron said taken aback, "What'ca wana talk to her for?" Ron asked with a glare. Harry felt embarrassed and angry at the same time. Why did Ron have to pick up the mirror? Why couldn't he mind his own business for once?

"Look Ron I need to talk to her, can you get her for me." Ron searched Harry's face for a moment not really understanding what was going on. Finally he nodded without any comprehension and said.

"I'll go find her one sec." And his face vanished. Harry sat for what seemed like forever. A few times he even thought of putting the mirror away but every time he went to do it he could hear a whisper telling him not to. Finally at long last Ginny's face appeared, Ron was hovering in the background.

Ginny looked surprised when she saw Harry and a bit sad.

"What's wrong Harry?" Ginny asked in a concerned voice. Harry's eyes flicked to Ron for a second. With startling comprehension that he would only have expected from Hermione, Ginny turned to Ron and shooed him out of the room. He could hear Ron's cry's of protest but after a threat of "You want me to try out my batboggie hex on you!" Ron finally left. Ginny returned to the mirror, her eyes searching Harry's face. "Okay it's just me here, now what's wrong Harry?" She asked again.

"It's…" Harry began, his mind falling in an uncontrollable spin. 'What the fuck was he doing?' "It's nothing, I'm sorry to of bothered you." Harry said quickly moving to put the mirror down.

"Harry!" Ginny cried, the face of the mirror was pointed up towards the ceiling so that he could not see it. Harry was just about to let go of it his fingers clasped tightly on the mirrors edge. "Please Harry, tell me." Ginny's voice was pleading but soft. Harry pulled the mirror back into his lap and looked at Ginny's face in it. Her bright eyes watched him, pleaded him to talk to her. And as if this was some magic key Harry began to pour out his heart from the begging of the summer.

He couldn't have stopped himself if he'd wanted too. After he finished one thing he blundered right into the next. Ginny looked horror struck when he came to the part about the illusions of her and Ron. Once he got to the end his mind began to wander and other events began to pop forward. Harry soon wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore. Everything he had ever thought seemed to be flooding out of him and Ginny sat there listening to every word.

Finally Harry wound down breathing hard. Not sure what all he had said or how long he had been talking. But surprisingly aside from a sore throat he felt much better. Ginny still smiled at him.

"Feel better?" She asked in a supporting, kind, soft voice.

"A lot, thanks Gin." He said, her eyes rose in curiosity. "Err sorry, Ginny." Harry corrected himself remembering the story Ron had told him about the time Fred and Gorge had called her Gin for a week, needless to say it was the last time anyone had ever called her that.

"No," She said quickly, "from you, it sounds okay, it sounds right even." Harry gave her a wary smile. "Harry." She said more seriously. "I am here for you, if you need to talk just ask, I'll be borrowing Ron's mirror for a bit." Harry couldn't help but smile at the grin on her face. "And if he tires to stop me I will make him wish he hadn't." Harry's smile grew even more. He knew that if the twins were the princes of pranks than Ginny was the queen by far and away because unlike Fred and Gorge she could get away with it.

---

For the fist time in what was as long as Harry could remember he slept a night with no bad dreams. No Voldemort, no Snape, no Malfoy. Just and ocean and a red headed witch sitting and hugging him as they sat on the beach watching the waves roll in under an endless sunset.

---

When Harry woke in the morning he felt refreshed, energized. Everything that had been biting away at him all summer seemed to have been pushed back by some invisible wall. He noticed that again, Hermione was up before he was.

Dressing he headed out to the living room to find her there, with breakfast on the table and the large leather book open held close to her face. He felt a ping remembering the 'journey of truth.' Harry sat down opposite from her and took one of the plates. Hermione lowered the book and looked over the top to see Harry.

"You look much better this morning." She said smiling. Harry couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks," he said. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

"I just gave you a push, you went the rest of the way on your own." Hermione said beaming. Harry suddenly desperate to change the subject looked to the thing that was nagging at him, the book.

"'mione, you gona look at that book all day long?" Harry asked.

"It's this stupid spell!" She said putting the book down in her lap and reaching for some toast. "I've read it so many times but I still can't figure out why it's here. I have asked the book different variations of the same question but every time this spell appears!" She said in an exasperated voice. "I just don't understand it, it's just the animagus spell!" Harry tottered on the edge of telling her about the "vision" he'd had and finally decided on the short version or rather just the end product.

"Have you looked up magical creatures?" Harry asked. Hermione still looking down at the book and nibbling at her toast answered not glancing up.

"I don't see what magical creatures have to do with anything. Animagus can't become magical creatures." Hermione said as she continued to read.

"Are you absolutely sure, what about becoming phoenixes?" Harry asked inquisitively. Hermione looked up.

"Do you know something I don't?" Hermione asked.

"Let's just say a very reliable person told me that it was key to defeating Voldemort." Harry said staring at her face looking for her to flinch at the sound of the name, she didn't.

"Wouldn't care to share who that was so I could ask them?" Hermione replied in a hurt voice. Harry tottered on the edge, should he tell her. After all Oberon had said that it wasn't the future he had seen.

"Yesterday, I had this sort of, journey." Harry began, Hermione's eyes grew a bit.

"The journey of truth?" She asked her voice trembling as she watched Harry's face.

"Blimey, 'mione is there anything you don't know?" Harry said feeling a bit relieved. Hermione gave him a weak smile that vanished quickly.

"I told you that I already read everything about Avalon in, Avalon, A History." She replied. "Harry, the journey of truth is just an answer to your question. It's not really anything that's going to happen." Harry looked at her and then launched into his story. She listened intently and when at last he finished with Oberon appearing and explaining it to him, her face was unreadable.

"I see." She said in a pondering voice. "Oberon is right you know. It wasn't a dream but it's not reality ether. It's just an answer. Do you know what the question was?" Hermione pressed. Harry took a deep breath this was something he had shared with Ginny but could he talk about it with Hermione? He considered Ginny like family but Hermione, she was still just a friend wasn't she?

Harry sat for a long moment forgetting what he was originally debating about. Only one question seemed to fill his thoughts, something he had been struggling with for a very long time. What was Hermione to him? She wasn't just a good friend she was much more but she wasn't the love of his life ether. She was some place in-between, a sister maybe? It sounded strange at first but by the time the thought had finished in his head he couldn't see really anything else to call her.

Hermione was still staring at him expectantly. Harry was suddenly panicked, what had she asked him again?

"I'm sorry what?" Harry said in an apologetic tone.

"Do you know what the question was, that the journey of truth showed to you?" Hermione asked again her voice still soft and inquisitive.

"Yes." Harry said simply. Hermione looked at him as thought to say 'yes and…?'Yes was obviously not what she had wanted to hear. 'She's like a sister to me.' Harry thought again. "It's a question I have been asking myself for a long time, why me, does it make a difference if I fight against Voldemort or not?" Harry said finally, not really feeling like he had lost anything be saying this. If he had expected her to scoff or laugh at him he was mistaken, though he hadn't really expected her to.

"Oh Harry, of course it does." She replied. "The journey showed you what would happen if you were gone, if you gave up."

"Or it showed me the answer to the other question," Harry said darkly, he hadn't even told this to Ginny. "What if I fail?" They both sat quietly for a while the words hanging in the air for a long moment.

"The journey doesn't show the future Harry." Hermione said. "And you won't fail. We will all be there to help you." She smiled reassuringly and then looked down at the book. "But your journey might have given us some insight on something I glazed over, you said Phoenix right?" Harry nodded. "Well it would protect you form death if you were transformed but there just isn't any way I can see to do this. You don't get to pick what form you will become. From what I have read it's sort of like a quest you go on to find your form or for it to find you. Once you do the quest that's it, you can never try again." Harry slumped back. "It requires a spell and a potion. Both are fairly difficult to do, but…" She traced her finger down the page. "I am sure I can manage."

"Hermione your bloody brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.

"This will take about a month to prepare though." Hermione continued. "In the mean time we should both begin to study the technique used. This won't be easy, becoming an animagus is very hard. Most wizards never learn it. Becuase after the age of 17 you can't become one. And what's more you are trying to become a magical creature." Hermione sighed. "If you really want to do this Harry it's going to be a lot of hard work. And even then I'm still not sure it will work!"

Harry told her that he understood and that if she was willing to help he was willing to try.

---

It was a grueling month. Harry hopped that for the sake of future students Hermione never became a teacher. She was incredibly demanding, more so than any professor Harry could think of. He felt like he was prepping to take his N.E.W.T.S.

Hermione gave him mornings off as she needed them to work on the complex potion component of the spell. During his free time Harry roamed the island exploring it as much as possible. He found the flight charm to be most helpful for looking where to go or traveling around. The island wasn't very big but he soon learned it was far faster to fly some place then to walk.

But most of the time he spent on the beach watching the ocean and listening to the soft rolling of the waves.

His dreams remained at bay for the most part. A few unpleasant nightmares floated through every now and then but they were just normal bad dreams.

Snape had not tried to contact him again for lessons, though Harry had to admit he wasn't sure if Snape ever really had. And every few nights he talked to Ginny enjoying her laugh more and more each time. Finding comfort in her eyes and in just talking to her. She listened to everything he had to say, and unlike Hermione didn't press him for more when he didn't want to talk about it.

The only thing Harry didn't enjoy was the practice. Animagus were very accomplished in transfiguration. Well Harry was pretty good, Hermione was much better. He quickly became truly surprised at how much she really knew and began to wish he had asked her years ago for help on the subject. The counter point to all this was that Hermione would take nothing but absolute perfection from him and some days he didn't get to sleep until the sun was rising in the sky.

---

Finally at long last it was the morning of. Today the potion would be ready. When Harry got up he found Hermione out in the living room over the cauldron. Hedwig was sitting on the couch and below her was a pile of letters. Harry felt surprised. There were also a couple of packages for him also!

Hermione beamed at him.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" she cried, springing up and rushing over to give him a hug. Harry had completely forgotten, was today his birthday? Time seemed to have flown by. Harry sat down on the couch and picked up the stack of letters. It was thick, how many people had written to him?

Hermione sat down excitedly and watched him as he opened each letter and read it, then passed it to Hermione. Some where just cards but others were letters.

Neville had sent him a letter, talking about how much his Gran was impressed with his improvement over the last year, and that it was because of Harry he was so much better!

"It's not true," Harry said passing the card to Hermione, "He put in the hard work I just gave him a hand getting there." He also had a letter from Luna and from other members of the DA.

But happy birthday wasn't the only thing in most of the letters, almost everyone had asked if Harry would continue the DA this next year. Hermione seemed to have noticed this too.

Finally with all the letters gone he turned to the three boxes. The first one was from Hagrid. Harry pulled off the outer wrapping to find a large Chocolate Cake inside with 16 Candles on it that were already lit. Harry smiled and blew them out as he did they shouted "'Appy Birt'day 'arry!" in Hagrid's voice.

Harry looked at Hermione in surprise and delight, Hagrid wasn't supposed to do magic. Harry pulled out one of the candles and read the words on the side. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes were printed in block letters. He passed the candle to Hermione and with a pop the candle burst into confetti. Harry laughed but Hermione looked a bit shocked.

After putting the cake down on the table he moved to the next package, it was from Ron. He opened it to find a load of candies and joke items from the 3Ws, there was also a letter at the bottom.

_Dear Harry,_

_Look at all these neat things! This is really from me, Fred and George, they packed you all of their best products, I got you the sweats as I can't imagine that you've had any since you got out to that island place._

_Mom said we would go pick up your books and stuff for you so don't worry about it._

_Have you heard the Cannons are winning Harry! They are brilliant!_

_Ron_

Attached was a clipping form the _Daily Prophet_ of the Cuddly Cannons flying around in their victory over Moldur Hawks. Harry smiled and passed on the letter to Hermione. He opened the last smallest box. It was from Ginny. Inside was a carefully wrapped heart shaped stone. But it had been broken in half and the other half was missing. Carefully Harry took the stone out of the box it fit neatly in the palm of his hand. It was warm to the touch and he could feel a heartbeat inside it.

Hermione smiled at him as he held the stone. He set it carefully in his lap and retrieved the letter from the bottom of the box.

_Dear Harry,_

_This is a heartstone. Through it you can feel the heartbeat of the person that has the other half of the stone, when one of us is happy the other will feel warmth through the stone, when one of us is sad the other will feel cold. Keep it close and think of me._

_Love Gin_

Harry smiled and did not pass the letter onto Hermione. He felt the warmth of the stone in his hand the quickening of the pulse in the stone as he held it close to his chest.

"Harry!" Hermione suddenly cried. Harry looked at her. She was looking intently at the clipping from the Prophet Ron had sent them. He didn't know she liked the Cuddly Cannons too. "Its an article about the Ministry of Magic! From the night of the attack!"

The stone dropped from Harry's hands and fell into his lap.

"Ron cut some of it off." Hermione said as she scanned it.

_The Ministry of Magic denies an attack took place lead by you-k…_

_Little Whinging. They also claim that rumors about ministry off…_

_untrue. _

_Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge is quoted as saying…_

"As saying what?" Harry asked. Hermione shook her head.

"Ron's cut off the rest." Hermione said as she scanned the surrounding articles for information. Harry had the feeling that things were not going well for the ministry, but he had hopped the article would provide more detail about the ministry wizards involved.

---

Hermione had taken a slice of the birthday cake but said that one was enough and that now she had to concentrate on the potion. It was in the final stage and needed close attention. Harry reread some of the letters and the short part of the article again. The stone in his breast pocket beat in time with his own heart and radiated heat.

While Harry had been here on this island he had forgotten about the outside world, about the ministry of magic, even about Hogwarts. But this article was a startling reminder of what was going on. And he felt uneasy about as his mind began to come out of its numbed state it had taken over the last month and worry once more filled his thoughts.

Hedwig had not wanted any of the birthday cake but had settled for on of the strips of bacon from the plate of food Hermione had brought up. After letting Hedwig out the door Harry was ready to take a bath to clear his head when Hermione informed him it was time.

"Okay," Hermione said handing him a vial of what seemed to be blue smoke. "You will drink that and I will cast the spell, after that it's really up to you. Remember we only have one shot at this." Harry held up his vial and clinked it with Hermione's.

"Cheers." He said and downed the vial. It didn't taste like anything. Hermione pulled out her wand and tapped him on the head.

"Maticus Animagius!" Harry felt suddenly tired and slumped back into his seat. His eyes wavered for a moment and then the room vanished.

Harry didn't fall asleep, he felt awake but disoriented. The room around him was dark.

'What was he here to do again?' Harry couldn't remember his mind seemed fuzzy. A horse galloped in out of the blackness. He seemed to be looking at it though funny shaped glass. It had a white shimmering coat and a wild black mane. A lighting shaped stripe was along its right side. The horse slowed to a trot and came up next to him, Harry felt his hand reaching out to touch it but he pulled back.

It was a very nice horse but that's not what he was here for. Harry began to wonder around, the horse trailing silently behind him. There were many animals here, each very nice in its own right. But to each Harry felt the same, they were nice but they just weren't what he was looking for. As he passed they got up and followed him in a long procession. He tried to imagine how ridiculous he must look.

Suddenly the blackness fell away. And Harry blinked. He was sitting on the couch in the room Hermione seemed to have just woken up as well.

"What happened?" Harry asked. "I thought we were supposed to pick our animal but I haven't picked one yet." Hermione looked worried. Quickly she checked the spell book and then looked at her potion and then checked the book again.

"I don't understand, there isn't a time limit. We aren't supposed to leave until we pick an animal. There was a wizard who was once stuck in the dream for 3 days well he tried to decide." Hermione was starting too look panicked. "I am sure I did everything right." Harry felt a sinking feeling, it had been all for not. They had only had one shot and that was it, it hadn't worked. What now, could he never become and animagus like his father had?

"Harry," Hermione said her eyes flashing up to him. "You didn't see any magic creatures in your dream did you?" Harry thought for a second. He didn't think he had.

"Nope." Harry replied after a long time. Hermione bent down over her book again. Harry watched and suddenly became aware that the stone in his pocket was getting cool and that the heartbeat had quickened pace. Harry tried to relaxed, he had to think positively. Maybe this gift wasn't such a good idea, he was opening himself up to someone much more than he ever thought possible.

After a few moments the stone started to become warm again and the heartbeat slowed to normal. He put his hand over the stone and whispered to it, "everything's fine Gin."

"This is it!" Hermione cried causing Harry to jump. She dipped the veils back into the cauldron and pulled them out again, but before handing it to Harry she tapped it with her wand and said. "Magius Apreus." And than did the same to hers, the blue smoke suddenly turn pink and become a liquid. Harry looked at it. Hermione downed hers in a gulp and Harry did the same. Then reaching out her wand she taped him on the forehead and said. "Magius Animagius." Like before the room seemed to fade and he reappeared in the blackness.

This time Harry felt more awake, more focused. His mind remembered the things Hermione had told him. "All the animals are there, some are just harder to find than others, find the one you want and stay away from the rest." Animals began to appear again, the same horse galloped towards him as did many other animals.

Harry took a step back, he didn't want any of these, this wasn't what he was looking for! As though he was still wearing the flight charm Harry jumped into the air as the animals stampeded below him.

He watched them with mild curiosity as they stared back up at him. A glowing red light now filled the blackness and Harry realized that without even meaning too he was flapping his arms as if they were wings. Above him, high out of reach a golden light circled, an incredibly beautiful song was coming from it.

Harry soared up towards the song. Finally he reached it. An enchanting Red-gold feathered phoenix had its wings spread as it hovered before him singing. The tips of its feathers were black and running down one wing was a lighting shaped marking. The bird had shockingly green eyes as it watching him with curiosity.

Harry moved towards it and it did not back away. He reached his hand out and touched it, his heart was racing. The feathers were warm and as his fingers brushed the bird it dissolved in the air becoming millions of golden lights.

The light enveloped Harry dancing around him. He took a deep breath and inhaled all the light. When he let the breath out he was sitting on the couch in the room, Hermione was still asleep across from him. Harry looked down at his hands and then at his feet. They felt different then they used too. Harry stood shakily and walked a few steps. He felt drained, tired beyond belief. He rested his hand against the couch.

His body was aching. What had Hermione said needed to be done after this? His mind was working over time. He couldn't recall the next step or even if there was one.

He took another step and felt himself toppling forward. Harry pushed his hands out in front of him but they weren't hands anymore. With a flap he was pushed off the ground. He felt the same but the room had suddenly gotten much bigger. He flapped his arms again and felt himself rise. Looking down he saw that his feet had become talons.

Talon suddenly realized. He had done it, he had become and animagus. He had become a Phoenix! It was strange at first. The small room made flying very hard. With carefully movements he finally managed to make it to the top of the couch. Where he perched watching Hermione as she slept.

He wasn't sure how long he had watched her but finally when she blinked and opened her eyes he let out a sigh of relief. She, however let out a gasp of surprise. He had almost forgotten what he looked like.

"Harry! You did it, you did it!" She cried. Talon beamed, he felt so tired. Hermione looked at him expectantly. "Harry?" She asked after a long while. "Aren't you going to change back?"

Talon heard the words but he didn't understand them. Change back? Change back into what? He had always been like this. Hermione looked worried.

"Harry you have to focus you have to concentrate." She said looking him dead in the eyes. "This is very very important Harry you have to change yourself back into a wizard. That is your true form." What was this girl talking about, and who was this 'Harry' she kept referring to?

Talon opened his mouth to explain to her that she had him mistaken for someone else but when he did a long and beautiful song came out, a song she didn't seem to understand.

"Focus Harry," Hermione said there were tears at the edges of her eyes now. "Please Harry." Talon wasn't sure what was wrong, he wanted to help this, Harry, whoever he was, but she seemed to be talking to him for some reason.

There was a thump against his chest. Talon looked down confused. There was nothing pressed against his shinning red-gold feathers. He felt the thump again and a warmness. It was a nice feeling, but what could be making it. Talon let out a sigh of content. His mind flashed and Harry suddenly realized.

With all his might fighting against every fiber that told him this was all he was, Talon willed himself to be Harry again. He toppled off the top of the couch and landed on his side feeling very tired.

---

When Harry again opened his eyes he found himself in bed. Still dressed in his clothing. To his surprise Hermione was passed out on the bed next to him. She wasn't up before he was. Harry felt the slow heartbeat of the stone against his chest.

Looking out the window Harry realized why. It was the middle of the night. Not feeling tired anymore Harry rolled out of bed and headed to the wash room intent on taking a bath. He was careful to lock the door before filling the tub and stripping down.

He was about to climb into the inviting bath when he realized that he had forgotten something. Moving back through his robes he found the half heartstone and took it with him. The heartbeat was still slow and steady. 'Gin must be asleep.' Harry thought contently as he settled back into the warm water.

---

After a long while Harry reluctantly decided it was time to get out, his skin was turning pruny. He let the water drain and then dressed himself. He opened the door with the intent to see if Hermione was awake yet but as he entered the living room he found in ruin. Harry drew his wand. The couches had been shredded and pushed to the floor. The remnants of his cake were splattered against the walls. The front door and the bedroom door hung awkwardly open with slash marks in them.

Without a second thought Harry bolted into the bed room. Hermione was gone, her bed had been ripped to shreds. Harry ran to the front door and looked out into the dark hallway. There was no one outside, no indication of which way to go now.

Harry was panicked what could have happened to her. He didn't think she had just gotten up early to go for a walk!

His heart was racing now.

He held out his wand in front of him. It had to work, this was important.

"_Fenindo_!" Harry said and to his incredible relief a glowing white orb appeared in front of him. "Hermione Granger!" Harry said exasperated. The orb leaned a little and dimmed then moved ever so slowly as it drifted down the hall. Harry followed. It was barley moving as fast as he was walking. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Hey hey Chapter 5, what'da you think? … anyone, come on don't be shy!... fine be that way!

To the first reviewer, OMG thank you for a review! I needed an ego boost to keep these hands of mine hands typing.

I swear there is much more to come, I have the rest of the story plotted out to the end. It was Professor Plum in the Lounge with the Wand!

Just have to add some in-between fiddly bits that need to go here and there.

Addressing some notes I have gotten:

There isn't much humor as of yet in this story because in general, Harry's summers are rarely humorous. My bad jokes will being to sneak their way in soon though.

Flakwsasa? Oops, I try and check all my names and spelkings to the best of my ability but I can only go over a chapter so many times before my eyes start to bleed. If you spot as mistake some place don't be hesitant to point it out and I will go back and fix it D

Sadly the romance in this story will (SPOILER, SPOILER ALERT ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS) not be revealed here. You will have to find out who is in love with who as you get there. Hey if you know the ending why read the book?

Comments, feedback, questions…. Answers? Err well the first 3 anyhow are always welcome, please leave a review as they help me become a better writer and produce a better story.


	6. – Unanswered Questions

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 6 – Unanswered Questions

It seemed like forever but at last the orb reached the front gates of the castle. Harry had a sinking feeling. The stone in his pocket was starting to chill and the heartbeat was quick paced. Gin was worried too. Worried because of him?

The orb of light floated through the doors as if they weren't there. Harry ran up and pushed against the doors but they would not give way. Looking between the crack Harry could see the light slowly continuing off.

Harry had to think, how had Hermione gotten outside these doors?

"_Allohamora_!" Harry shouted at the doors. His wand flared but they still remained locked. 'THINK!' Harry willed himself. How else could a wizard get past a locked door? Apparation? But he couldn't do that, he was underage and didn't know how, did Hermione? Then it dawned on him. He wasn't just Harry anymore he was also Talon and Phoenixes could teleport! Harry took a slow breath recalling the rigorous training Hermione had put him through.

Harry looked at his hands as his fingers came together and feathers blossomed all over his body. With a flap of his arms, Harry was airborne and circling around the small entrance space.

'Now,' Talon thought. 'How do get to out there!' As Talon imagined where he needed to go and how to get there a burst of flame spread out and he appeared outside in the night sky.

---

Quickly Talon found the orb just as it turned off the stone stairs and floated into the forest, he followed high above.

'Why is it moving so slowly?' Talon thought. The orb seemed to be taking its time so that every now and then Talon had to circle so as to stay behind it. Finally the orb came to a stop. 'This is it!' Talon thought swooping down to land right behind the orb and willing himself to become Harry again. 'I am Harry!' Talon thought and Harry felt his feet touch the ground.

The trees were lit with the dim light of the glowing orb but hadn't stopped moving, it was just moving so slowly as to appear stopped. Harry looked around. There wasn't anyone here. Harry prodded the orb with his wand and whispered. "_Nox_." The orb went out. Behind a tree only a few paces away, two glowing white eyes found him.

"_Lumos_." Harry said and his wand tip glowed with light. He held it out pointing it at the eyes. Harry had only a fleeting glimpse of a large, tiger like, beast in the shadows. It had brown fur and two long horns sprouting out of the back of its head. But Harry knew instantly.

"Hermione!" He gasped. The beast snarled and with a powerful turn that sent a spray of dirt into the air, it bolted off into the darkness. Harry was about to cast the finding spell again when something struck him. The finding spell had worked but only just, maybe because what he was following wasn't Hermione, at least not in the true sense. After all when he was Talon, he wasn't really Harry. Without thinking his wand moved and the words shot out of his mouth.

"_Legilimens_!" Harry shouted.

'I must run, I must hide.' Harry saw things, saw memories of a tall dark wizard towering over him, its wand pointed down ready to attack. Purple light streamed everywhere. Now he was at Ron's house and arms were snaking around him, hands groping him. The connection broke.

Harry knew he had little time to try again before she was out of range. Trying to order his thoughts, Harry concentrated on what he needed the most. 'A name Hermione, I need a name!'

"_Lagialmens_!" Harry roared silver light burst from his wand and rushed out into the darkness.

'No! Don't come any closer!' Hermione cried. There was a huge snake with glowing yellow eyes. Smaller snakes were pouring out of the walls and wrapping around her body and crawling inside her clothing.

'A name,' Harry willed trying to push the memory aside. 'Tell me your name, Hermione!' The memory vanished and Hermione's face appeared before him.

'Paws of course,' Hermione said with a confused look as though this was obvious. Then the connection broke. That was all Harry needed.

"_Finendo_!" Harry said and the orb of light burst back into existence. "Paws!" Harry said his heart racing, the heartstone starting to feel warm in his pocket again. The orb of light wasted no time, it rushed off. Harry moved full sprint after it as it darted between trees and finally broke into a clearing.

The orb slowed. Harry had been almost all over this island but he had never been here before. Ruined walls crumbled with the passage of time. A few house stood, roofless and a tower that had been broken in the middle spiraled up at the far end. Harry looked from side to side as the orb moved slowly into the ruins. A large stone wall still surrounded this place, wherever it had been.

He followed the light as it moved. Suddenly it went out and the glowing eyes became apparent. He had to make her understand that she was Hermione, but how? How had she helped him come back? He couldn't really recall.

Thinking of only one way to reach her Harry held out his wand.

"_Lagialmens_!" He shouted for the third time that night. The silver light glowed brighter than before and Harry appeared in a room with nothing but Paws and himself. They eyed each other for a longtime then to Harry's surprise Paws spoke in Hermione's voice.

"What do you want?" Paws said. "Please don't hurt me!" Harry felt sad, how could Hermione ever think he would hurt her?

"I am here to help." Harry said moving towards her. She took a few steps back, but Harry continued to move towards her, his pace slow but steady.

"It's me, Harry." Harry said. Hermione didn't seem to recognize him. Finally he was close enough to touch her. Kneeling down he ran a hand along her head. She let out a purr of affection and nuzzled his chest. "Come back to me Hermione." Harry said pleadingly.

Suddenly she began to shrink. The fur absorbed back into her skin and the horns retracted. Her bushy hair was pressed against his arms as she sank into them. The ruins around them came back into view. Hermione was asleep in his arms.

Harry was too tired to think. He didn't know how to get them back up to the castle. He wrapped his arms tighter around Hermione's sleeping form and leaned against the wall thinking, 'just a quick nap.'

---

It took Harry awhile to realize where exactly he was. It took even longer to realize why exactly he was there. But it took only a moment when he looked down at Hermione, still asleep in his arms, to know this was exactly where he needed to be.

Gently he shook her awake. She let out a huge yawn then looked up at him with sleepy eyes. It seemed to take her a moment to realize where she was as well.

Hermione let out a little cough. When Harry still remained motionless she said.

"You can let go now," with a smile. Embarrassed Harry quickly released her. She sat up and stretched her arms wide.

"I'm sorry." Harry said looking away. Hermione turned to stare at him.

"Sorry, sorry for what? Sorry for saving me and staying with me through the cold night? Harry you honestly need to have more self-esteem!" Harry still felt awkward so he stood up and took a few steps away.

Harry placed his hand over the heartstone in his pocket it felt warm and the heartbeat was soothing.

Hermione stood and brushed herself off.

"Well!" She said looking around. "We did it Harry! At first I wouldn't have thought it was possible but _we did it!_" Harry looked at her blankly as if to say 'we did what?' Hermione rolled her eyes. "Were animagus now! Magical animagus! Harry, no one in a longtime has become a magical animagus!" Harry nodded absently.

"We did cut it a bit close though." Hermione continued uneasily. "I mean if you hadn't come and found me last night I would still be wondering the woods as a Kasar."

"As a what?" Harry asked blankly.

"Ohhh, a Kasar Harry!" Hermione said with a dreamy gleam in her eyes. "It's a tiger like animal with amazing speed. At night they have the ability to turn completely invisible and to pass through solid objects. Some Kasar can even become invisible during the day!" Harry fought back a sudden burst of laughter as he remembered what Hermione looked like.

"Hermione," Harry said trying to keep his mouth working around the laughter. "You know you have horns right?" She shot him a furious look as, unable to control it any longer he fell over laughing.

---

It had taken a while for Harry's spurts of laughter to subside. Every time he thought they had stopped Hermione appeared in his mind with horns and a cat's face.

Hermione had finally given up trying to get a word in and instead had taken to looking around the ruins. When at last Harry had stopped laughing and was once again in control of his body he joined her.

"This has to be it!" Hermione said as they wondered around one of the houses. The roof had long ago dissolved away due to the passage of time. But the stone walls still stood in fair condition. "In the chest," Hermione murmured to herself.

Harry didn't see any chest in here. In fact there wasn't much anything in the house at all.

"Oh, what did the stone say again?" Hermione thought aloud as she paced around the room. Then she looked at Harry, 'how was he supposed to know?' Harry thought.

"Of course." Hermione said pulling out her wand. "_Accio_ Stones!" There was a long pause and then a moment latter the two half's they had already found whooshed in through the open roof.

Deftly Hermione caught the zooming stones. She looked at them, her eyes focused.

"In the light of, the reflection, in the house of stone, under, behind, the chest of, something…" Hermione said as rotated the stones. "This doesn't make any sense. It's not a map to anything." Harry sighed. It felt like they were close. But nothing Hermione said made sense to him.

'In the light of the reflection? In the house of stone behind the chest of… something?' Harry pondered, it just didn't make any sense.

Hermione was reading it again to herself.

"Blast it," She said at last dropping the stones to the ground. "It's broken in just the wrong parts."

"What'da you mean?" Asked Harry as he walked over and picked up the stones from the ground, the strange writhing still making no sense to him. Hermione let out a sigh and pointed to the runes around the outside of the stone.

"Depending on what symbols come first, the symbols after can mean different things." She took one of the halves from Harry and pointed at the first rune, it was broken missing part of what the rune looked like in full. "This rune could be any part of any number of words or meanings," She pointed at the next symbol.

"The only words that really make sense for it, with this rune following, are the words: light, reflection, sky, water, sun or Si, the first letter in the alphabet. But," Hermione added. "That doesn't really fit, how can something be in the sky or the reflection or a single letter?" Something popped into Harry's head and Hermione must have caught it too.

"The Moonwell." Harry said. Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "But there wasn't anything in the Moonwell." Harry said thinking about what had happened. "Just our memories and I can't see how that's related." Hermione read the other stone again.

"Harry," She said a smile spreading across her face. "There was something in the Moonwell, something that we came back with that we didn't have before we went there!" Harry couldn't imagine what she was talking about. They hadn't even comeback with water dripping off them. "Thisss Harry!" She said holding up the other stone. "This is what we got from the Moonwell, the first stone." Harry was confused. Hermione shook the stone, as if shaking it would help Harry better understand what she meant.

"But that means, that these halves each tell where the other part is." Hermione frowned. "Nether tell where the center part is!" Hermione rubbed her face in frustration.

Hermione snatched the stone out of Harry's hands and pushed the two halves together again looking for something, anything. Willing her eyes to find the connection, the answer that they must possesses but seemed to lack.

Harry looked over her shoulder trying to will his eyes to read the unreadable.

"Hermione," Harry asked tentatively. "What do these lower markings say?" Harry asked pointing at the smaller runes closer to the center of the oddly shaped stone. Hermione looked down at them and thought for a moment.

"They don't say anything." She said after a longtime of thought. "They aren't words their, numbers sort of."

"A combination lock?" Harry asked thinking of one of the muggle devices that his Uncle had used to lock him in his room with. Hermione rotated the stone again.

"Maybe, they are out of order." She looked around and found the remains of what might have once been a stone stove. She set the stone on top of it. "This number is one," She said pressing the smaller rune. As she did it glowed for a moment and then went out. Hermione gasped. Her eyes flickered around the stone. And suddenly she realized.

"It's a puzzle Harry!" She cried. "The numbers correspond to the placement of these runes in the alphabet!" Quickly she began to tap the runes in a seemingly random order as she tapped each one the small rune and the large rune above glowed and remained glowing. Finally only one rune remained unlit. She cast a glance at Harry.

"This is the last number," Hermione said her finger hovering over it. Harry nodded. Gently she tapped it, the stone shivered. Harry and Hermione backed away as a bright yellow glow enveloped the two halves.

Harry's heart was racing. After a longtime the stone's glow faded and a single round stone sat whole on top of the stove. Cautiously Harry and Hermione approached it. The runes around the outside had vanished and words now ringed the stone.

"Speak now its name, and enter." The stone read. In the center was an engraving of a sword with a dragon behind it. Hermione lifted the stone from the table, it was cold to the touch.

"Take hold." Hermione said with a smile. Harry gave her a quizzical glance and grabbed the edge of the stone disk. "Excalibur!" Hermione shouted. For a moment, nothing happened, then from some place behind his navel Harry felt like a hook was pulling him and the ruined building around them vanished.

---

When Harry's feet at last touched the ground he quickly let got of the disk.

"It's a port key!" Harry said out of breath. Hermione was standing brushing herself off.

"Well it's more than just a port key. It's a crypto-nix, a sort of wizard puzzle." Hermione said setting the round stone down on the ground. "They are very rare and very hard to make."

"And that one," a voice spoke up, "was particularly difficult to create." Harry pulled out his wand, taking in his surroundings for the first time. They were in some kind of a cave with perfectly arched walls. Many stalactites and stalagmites were along the walls but the center of the cave seemed to be completely clear of them.

Harry glanced at Hermione and then took a step forward, there was no one here but them.

"Hello, who's there?" Hermione called suddenly. Harry shot her a furious look. What the hell was she doing she was giving away their location! Harry was just about to hiss for her to be quiet when a very elderly looking wizard stepped out from behind one of the pillars of stone.

He smiled at them. His bread was so long that it touched the ground and a floppy blue hat sat atop his head. His face, though very wrinkled, had a kindly look about it. When he spoke his voice seemed to have a soothing quality to it.

"It has been such a longtime since anyone has come to visit that I seem to have forgotten my manners." The old man said. "I am…"

"Merlin!" Hermione gasped. Harry felt his eyes go wide, it couldn't be, it wasn't possible he would be thousands of years old!

"No dear child." The wizard said with a twinkle in his eye. "I am the memory of Merlin, left here as guardian and truth sayer to all those that would come after my time. And I dare say it has been a longtime." The old man stretched and as he did Harry noticed he wasn't fully solid, not ghost like, but not tangible ether.

Both Harry and Hermione stood speechless. They were in the presence of the memory of the greatest wizard to ever live!

"I find that many of my guests have a lot of questions but that they are often too befuddled to know where to start. So I would suggest that we have a cup of tea perhaps before we continue."

With a flick of his hand a table, chairs, tea and biscuits appeared in front of them. Merlin moved to one of the chairs and waited expectantly for Hermione to sit first.

She seemed to regain a bit of her sense and nodding uncertainly moved and sat. Merlin looked over at Harry who, at present, looked like he would much rather stand.

After a long moment, Harry approached uneasily and sat down.

"I am sure you have questions and as you have worked very hard to get here. I will of course be more than happy to answer them." Merlin said as he filled Hermione's cup and then Harry's.

"How did we get here, to Avalon I mean?" Hermione asked. "Really?" Merlin beamed at her.

"That would be the doing of Elsea." Merlin said pressing his hands together.

"But she voted against me staying!" Harry said confused. "Why would she have brought me here and then wanted to get rid of me?" Merlin smiled knowingly.

"Let's just say the threads of love work in funny ways." Harry wasn't sure what to make of the answer but Hermione coughed into her tea with an obvious blurt of laughter. "However," Merlin said handing a napkin to Hermione, who took it as gracefully as possible, "I don't think you came here to ask about that." Merlin fixed Harry with a gaze that he had only gotten from Dumbledore. An all knowing unweaving stair that felt as if he was looking into Harry's very soul.

"Why did you let Voldemort take forbidden magic from Avalon? Why didn't you stop him?" Harry said angry. Merlin's eye's seemed to shine as though he could feel Harry's anger.

"I see." Merlin said, his eyes now fixed upon the scar. "So that is the source of your rage." Harry's anger was fueled by the old wizard changing the subject. Merlin broke his gaze with Harry and looked over at Hermione offering her more tea.

Harry felt like he had been released from a powerful crushing charm as Merlin looked away.

"No, I am fine, thank you." Hermione said holding up a hand.

"I am just a memory Harry, I am no more real than a dream." Merline said not looking back at Harry.

'You obviously haven't seen any of my dreams lately.' Harry thought.

"I cannot leave this room, beyond these walls I do not exist. But there is something more important you need to know, something you need to understand." Merlin said, still not looking back at Harry. Harry could feel his temper rise, last year Dumbledore had done the same thing, refuse to look at Harry. "I see in your eyes the same gleam for power that I saw in Tom's."

'What!' Harry's mind reeled his anger vanishing. 'He is comparing me to Voldemort!' Harry felt afraid. A wave of panic had just rushed over him. It was the thing he feared most, that he was like Voldemort.

"You mistake my words." Merlin said, his eyes finally returning to Harry. "It is the same gleam not because you want the power yourself but because it was the power Tom wanted." Harry didn't understand.

"Perhaps a history lesson would be in order." Merlin stood, as did Harry and Hermione, the table vanished. Merlin led them down the cave towards a hallway that seemed to be made of golden light. The stone changed and the rock smoothed becoming walls of gold.

At last Merlin stopped before an elaborate painting. Upon it was a great battle. Two wizards stood opposite each other with hands full of fire. The sky shook and the earth split in a great fissure.

"Long ago there was a Dark Wizard named Tromeldov." Merlin began as he spoke the figures in the painting began to move acting out his words. "For many years we did battle with each other. Until one day Tromeldov fell by my hand.

"His evil, however, would not be destroyed. Death was not its final resting place." Harry watched as the man in the painting clad in dark robes opposite Merlin crumpled to the ground. Dark clouds covered the sky above. "He was reborn from his hatred. My inability to foresee this cost countless lives, but one can never predict the future. Even the best laid plans of the brightest wizards are not always successful." The man who had been slain stood again, more menacing than before. "Acts of evil will not destroy evil. Killing will not remove it. It will only make it stronger, its thirst for power greater.

"It seemed that nothing could be done. Even if I battled this evil for the rest of my life it would endure beyond my time." Merlin moved forward to the next painting. Upon the canvas stood Oberon twelve shinning wings spread out behind him.

"It was at last in the darkest hour that Oberon found a way to seal this evil, to hide it in a light so bright that it could never escape." In Oberon's hands was a light that glowed as bright as the sun. "The light was hidden on Avalon and protected by the Seraphim who live here.

"But again, I should have known that such evil would not remain hidden forever. Slowly the shadow corrupted the light that sealed it and the small flicker of darkness was all Tom Riddle needed to see to know the reason he had come to Avalon." The next picture was of a dead Seraphim. A long bladed sword priced though its chest, its blood poured out onto the floor. Other Seraphim around it wept as Tom Riddle stood over it holding a ball of darkness.

"On that day Tom Riddle ceased to be. His power enhanced by the oldest and darkest evil. He fashioned a new name, Lord Voldemort." There were no more painting beyond that. The hallway ended into a large golden door.

"This is where I leave you, beyond this door is the tomb of King Arthur, your last stop on your journey through Avalon." And with a bow the memory of Merlin vanished.

---

Harry took a deep breath and looked over at Hermione. Her face was tense. Harry placed his hands against the door and pushed gently. The door was heavy and moved slowly scraping against the stone floor.

Light poured out from the open doorway and Harry could see nothing but golden white light. As the room slowly came into focus Harry could make out bright white walls of stone rising high into the air.

Extravagant stain glass windows were set in each wall and golden light flowed in from them. Four great pillars sat just off the walls and held high above them a dome with a golden sun placed in its center.

In the middle of the room was a pit with stairs leading down on all sides and in the middle of the pit was a rectangular shaped tomb. Atop the tomb was what looked like a man carved in stone. He held in his hands a sword, which unlike the carving, was real. Harry took a few steps into the room, his eyes fixed on the incredible carving and the shimmering sword that seemed to draw all light in the room to it.

Hermione gasped. Harry couldn't blame her, it was incredible. The room was truly breath taking. Hermione's hand shot out past Harry's ear, her finger pointing as something past the tomb on the other side of the room.

Harry squinted, the light made it hard to see anything except the tomb.

Against the back wall where Hermione's finger was pointed Harry could make out a shadow of a person, sitting. Cautiously Harry moved further into the room, Hermione trailing close behind him. They moved around the outside of the pit and over to the person against the back wall.

Harry felt his eyes widen in shock, Hermione let out a cry of surprise.

The person had many bandages wrapped around his, some stained red with blood. His arm was in a sling. Upon his back two of his four wings were gray and lifeless the other two shown a dull white even in the brilliant light flooding the room.

Harry knew who this person was, he was not a person at all, he was a Seraphim.

"Solaris," Hermione said softly and then glanced at Harry.

A shriek erupted from behind them.

Instinct taking over Harry pulled his wand and turned to face the direction the cry had come from.

Running from the door, a look of panic and terror upon her face was Elsea. In one hand she clasped fresh bandaged and in the other what looked like a silver flask.

"What are you doing!" She cried rushing toward them. "Leave him alone!"

'Attack, kill her now!' a voice in Harry's head hissed. He ignored it. It shouted louder. 'What are you waiting for? She is coming to kill you!' Harry pointed his wand at her and she froze terror and rage in her eyes.

"That is enough," came a raspy voice from behind Harry. Harry looked back to see Solaris, one eye open, glaring at him.

Hermione put a hand on Harry's outstretched arm and he lowered his wand. 'What had come over him?'

Elsea, moved slowly finally reached Solaris' side.

"Away." He said with a wave as she began to change his bandages. "For too long have I rested down here." Solaris pushed himself up against the wall. Harry could see flickers of pain on his face as he worked to rise.

"We thought you were dead!" Hermione cried as Solaris made the last struggle to his feet.

"I nearly was. It is my fault that you almost died in the Seas of Avalon. It was my weakness that almost cost you your lives. I should be dead, for I have failed again." Solaris said. Now that he was standing, even with the bandages on, he seemed invincible as if nothing had happened. "Yet I live on, and I have promises to keep." His eye's fell uncomfortably on Harry.

"Your time on Avalon is over, we will depart immediately." Solaris announced and slowly as though each step took all of his strength he began to walk toward the door.

"But my Lord you are not strong enough to leave Avalon yet!" Elsea cried. Solaris stopped.

"Do not call me that," Solaris said his voice pained. "I am no ones lord." He resumed his movement towards the door. When finally he reached it he turned to look back at Elsea, Hermione and Harry all still standing where he had left them.

"There is nothing more for you on Avalon." Solaris said his voice calm. Hermione looked at Harry. Harry looked at Solaris and taking a deep breath walked towards him.

"Elsea, I forbid you to tell Oberon of my return." Elsea nodded uncertainly. Casting a glance at Harry and then Hermione Solaris turned and led the way in broken steps back to the port key.

---

The sun was setting as Harry and Hermione followed Solaris along the shore. The wind had turned ice cold. Harry wasn't sure where they were going, or how Solaris planed to leave. Surely he wasn't fit to fly if he could barley walk!

Abruptly Solaris turned and headed down to the waters edge.

'They weren't going to swim away from Avalon?' Harry thought suddenly.

But as they reached the water a boat seemed to appear. It sat there as if it had been there all along, though Harry could swear it wasn't there a moment ago.

The boat was made of tan colored wood and was long but not very wide. It looked like it might hold four or five people all sitting in a row.

Solaris helped Hermione into the boat then held his hand out to help Harry in. As Harry's foot touched the bottom of the boat a booming voice broke the silence that seemed to have pressed down upon them.

"You flee once more from the shores of Avalon, my son." Harry turned to see Oberon standing in the sand, his wings out stretched and glowing. The wind danced about his head so that his white hair streamed out behind him.

"I have failed in my tasks a second time, I have returned to Avalon defeated, Oberon." Solaris said his voice filled with sadness.

"It was not your fault then and it is not your fault now. I knew of your return. I waited hoping you would come back to me, to Avalon." And for the first time Harry could see a look of sadness in Oberon's eyes.

"But it is not my home any longer," Solaris said. "And I have promises to keep." Solaris turned back to Harry and with a gentle push helped him the rest of the way into the boat. "When at last my task is done, I will return." Solaris said turning back to Oberon and giving him a deep bow.

"Mr. Harry Potter," Oberon said, his eyes falling on Harry. "A debt long owed is repaid this night. By my will I free you, Solaris, of the chains of Avalon. Go where you will."

Solaris took a deep breath and Harry was sure there was a gleam of happiness in his eyes. Then turning back to the boat he pushed it with one arm out into the ocean and took a few steps in the water before landed kneeling in the boat.

They were moving at a steady pace away from the island. Oberon still stood on the shore watching as they drifted away. He held his hand high in the air and said something Harry did not quite catch.

Solaris held his hand in the air as well and whispered.

"Good bye, father. And thank you."

* * *

Authors Notes:

And thus is the end of the story…

Nah I am just messing with you, LOTS more to come!

Congratulations for finishing chapter 6 you are now eligible to receive a grand prize.

Note: all muggles not eligible to receive grand prize, void everywhere.

This is a chapter that hits a lot of important points very quickly. Originally two chapters, I combined into one with the removal an incredibly long, boring and ultimately far too revealing segment of exposition. However, don't worry you aren't missing anything important that wont be revealed latter.

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS. I have set it to take anonymous reviews as I guess I didn't check everything carefully enough.

I now have a proofreader on my side, he is very slow though so most chapters will only receive improvements after they have been posted for a while. That being said, Chapter 1 has been re-re-reproofed. The over all idea remains the same but much of the sentence structure and thought complexes that didn't flow very well have been corrected to fit much better.

However no new material has been added and not rereading chapter 1 will not detract from your overall experience of the story.


	7. – The Sorting Hat’s Sorting

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 7 – The Sorting Hat's Sorting

The shores of Avalon vanished behind them as the boat move swiftly into the night. The boat didn't bounce up and down or sway side to side as it should, instead it seemed to keep perfectly still. If Harry had not seen the island vanishing into the distance behind them he would have thought they weren't moving at all.

"What do you think he meant by a debt long owed." Harry asked looking from Hermione to Solaris. Hermione shrugged.

"It means I am free of my bondage to Avalon," Solaris said. "That Oberon is my master no longer." Solaris looked down at Harry. "Thank you, Mr. Harry Potter."

"Uh, just Harry," Harry said. Solaris nodded.

"So," Hermione asked, "Where are we going?"

Solaris took a long breath before answering. Now that Solaris was sitting he somehow seemed far less invincible.

"Our destination is Hogwarts." Solaris said at last. "We should arrive there soon." Harry and Hermione shot each other apprehensive looks.

"Please, Mr. Solaris," Hermione began. Solaris's head turned suddenly his eyes wide. Hermione closed her mouth unsure what she had said.

"Just Solaris," Solaris said, "I have never liked titles."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said apologetically. "Solaris, why are we going to Hogwarts now, term won't start for another few weeks." Solaris seemed more surprised. He looked up at the sky as if he was asking it a question.

"We will arrive there when we need to." Solaris finally replied, he sounded tired. "For now I need to rest" Solaris lay back in a sitting position against the inside of the boat and closed his eyes. When he did not stir Harry turned to Hermione

"So," Harry said. "How long do you think this boat trip will take?" Harry was suddenly remembering the globe of the world he had seen when he had arrived on Avalon. "And how do you think we'll travel the rest of the way to Hogwarts, I mean unless this boat can fly I don't see how we are going to get there."

"Maybe Solaris will fly us there, like he did to Avalon?" Hermione said thoughtfully. Harry nodded absently. Solaris didn't seem in any condition to fly at the moment.

"I think, maybe we should get some sleep too 'mione." Harry said looking at the bright moonless sky he was suddenly feeling very tired. Hermione smiled weakly at him and curled down into the front of the boat so that Harry was left with a space just a bit too small to fit comfortably in.

After many tries at positioning himself so as not to collide with Hermione or Solaris, Harry finally gave up. He rested his head against Hermione's and stretched out his legs.

Harry let out a long sigh and with the heartstone beating softly against his chest and the warm leg against the back of his head. Harry closed his eyes listening to the sounds of the night air.

---

When Harry awoke he found it was still night, for a moment he thought he had only slept for a few minutes but above him he could see a half moon.

Harry hadn't been exceptional in astronomy but he knew the basics. When he had gone to sleep there had been no moon.

Astrologically it was impossible for the moon to be like this, unless of course it was days latter. That could only mean he had been asleep a longtime.

Solaris was awake and he was watching the moon. Harry could hear Hermione's soft breathing still and feel her heartbeat against the back of his head. Harry sat up slowly.

"How long was I asleep?" Harry asked hopping Solaris had the answer.

"We have slept for days," Solaris said. "The mists of Avalon have carried us far." Solaris' eyes turned forward. Harry turned his head to see what it was Solaris was looking at.

Upon the water in the distance Harry could make out faint glowing lights, dancing above the surface of the water. At first he couldn't figure out what they were but as they drew closer he began to realize that beneath the lights were people. People in… row boats!

"We… we can't be!" Harry said looking at Solaris. Harry reached down and shook Hermione. She turned over bleary eyed.

"Uh.. Hu? What?" Hermione moaned. She sat up and rubbed her face. "I feel like I have been asleep forever!" She said. Hermione looked to her side, next to them now was a boat filled with four people. A lantern hung from a metal pole at its front and the oars rowed by themselves.

"Harry!" Hermione cried in surprise, "Were on the black lake!" In the boat at the front of the cluster was Hagrid and that meant that around them were first-years crossing the black lake to the castle. But none of the people in the boats seemed to have noticed their arrival.

At last the boats reached the shore, and high above them they could see the glowing windows of Hogwarts.

They disembarked from the boat, the first-years around them seemed only now to be noticing them as Harry, Hermione and Solaris were much taller than anyone else save for Hagrid.

"I will inform Dumbledore that we have arrived," Solaris said with a nod and hurried off along a different path than the rest of the students.

"First 'ears over 'ere. Dis' way now!" Hagrid roared over the crowed of uncertain students. "Oy, whos dat?" Hagrid said raising his lantern to illuminate the students better. Harry felt the bright light upon him.

"'Arry? Hermion'e? What'ca doing down 'ear now?" Hagrid asked in a puzzled voice. The first-years parted as Harry worked his way up to the front and Hermione followed along behind him.

"It's a long story Hagrid." Harry said.

"Well yah can tells it ta me later, gotta get dis bunch up ta da great 'all, Come'on now you lot!" Hagrid boomed. He turned and began to walk off up the dirt path that led from the black lake and up to the castle gates.

Harry could remember walking this path his first night. He could remember how frightened and excited he felt. Harry could feel Hermione close behind him, her warm breath against the back of his neck in the cold night air.

They passed through the front gates and into the castle. To Harry's horror it was not Professor McGonagall waiting to take the first-years to the great hall, it was Snape.

Snape eyed Harry and Hermione with suspicion.

"All your Professor Snape, Sir." Hagrid said. "a'll see these two off ta da great 'all then." Hagrid said placing a palm against Harry and Hermione's backs and moving them off from the crowed. To Harry's great surprise Snape did not make any comments about him, possibly because of the first-years. As they turned the corner Harry could hear Snape began to speak in cold, commanding voice and Harry was thankful that this was not his first-year.

Finally they reached the doors to the great Hall. Filch the caretaker was standing like a guard at the doors.

"Ooo, you seem to be a little late, Mr. Potter." Filch said in his falsely friendly voice, his eyes fixed on Harry. Miss Norris, his cat, stared up at them with unblinking yellow eyes as though waiting for them to speak so she could hiss at them.

"I'm afraid I can't let you in until after the ceremony." Filch said nastily.

"Ah come'on now," Hagrid said, "They are only a few 'intues late." Filch shot him a scathing look. "In yah go now." Hagrid said holding the door open for them. Harry, desperate to just get inside, nodded at Hagrid and moved quickly past.

If Harry had wanted a discreet entrance he was sadly disappointed. All eyes were fixed on the doors as Harry and Hermione entered. Whispers began to fill the room. Unable to avoid being detected now, Harry walked as nonchalantly as possible over to his seat at Gryffindor table.

Ron was already seated across from them as Harry and Hermione took their places. Ron was staring at them his face a mixture of confusion and relief.

"Bloody hell Harry!" Ron said. The whispering was still prominent in the background. "We didn't think you were gona make it, we weren't sure what happened to you when you didn't show up on the train. I tried to call you on the mirror but you didn't answer."

Harry felt a ping of guilt, the mirror, they had left it in Avalon.

"I sort of forgot to bring it with me," Harry said. Ron's jaw dropped but before he could get a word out Hermione broke in.

"Where's Ginny?" She said looking up and down the table.

"Oy!" Ron said, "That's right you don't know! Ginny's a Prefect!"

"What?" said Harry his mouth falling open in disbelief.

"Yeah Professor McGonagall wanted a word with her after we got off the train. I guess they're still talkin." Harry was just about to ask another question when the doors to the great hall sprang open and Snape, followed by the group of first-years, moved down the center isle to the front of the great hall.

On a stool the sorting hat sat, battered and torn with time. The first-years crowed around watching the hat, all of them seemed to be uneasy.

'Who would blame them?' Harry thought. 'After all who would want to be greeted by Snape?'

Suddenly the hat sprang into song that echoed off the walls of the great hall.

"_And so another year is here, more have come to stay._

_They will quickly find, that here is not a place for them play!_

_Upon their heads I will sit and decide where they should go_

_Not only on their merit but on strengths they don't even know_

_I shall find the house they'll fill and send them on their way_

_Be warned tonight shall be like none other sorting day_

_For when at last it all is done and each is in their place_

_You will see a difference, something not common place!"_

"What a strange song," Harry said as he clapped with the rest of the hall, some of the other claps seemed to be less enthusiastic than normal and there was much whispering.

"As I call your name you will step up, I will place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your house." Snape said looking at the first-years, who, Harry could see were shaking a bit.

"William Cirs." Snape called, a young boy with bright blond hair and fair skin emerged from the crowed, he walked up to the stool and sat upon it. The child's eyes shifted around the room and Harry could see in the child's face the fear he had felt during his own sorting.

Snape lowered the hat onto his head. It took only a moment and then. "GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted. Harry clapped loudly as Snape pulled the hat from the boy's head. Looking as though the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders, the boy scurried to the Gryffindor table and found a seat near the front.

"Moric Dello." Snape called. A girl with dark skin and black hair stepped up to the stool. Snape lowered the hat but it hadn't even touched her head when it exclaimed, "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry clapped his hands together with increased force, the first two had been Gryffindors.

Snape called the next name and again the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" This time Harry and many other students clapping was a bit diminished.

'Three Gryffindors in a row?' Harry thought. Even though Harry had only managed to make it to three of five sortings, he had never seen so many people sent to one house in a row before.

Other students at other tables seemed to be uneasy as well. Snape called the next name and again the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Clapping was uneasy now. Four in a row? Sure there had to be eighty or so first-years but still. Snape shot the Headmaster an uneasy glance but called the next name on the list.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat cried as it was placed upon the head of the brunette child. Snape lifted the hat from her head as she moved uncertainly to the Gryffindor table.

Snape did not call the next name, instead he looked expectantly at Dumbledore. Harry watched not sure what to make of this. The professors didn't seem to know what was going on ether.

"Continue, if you please Professor Snape," Dumbledore said in a kind voice that cut through the silent air. Snape nodded and called the next name.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat cried. "GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!"

All clapping had stopped, there were now so many first-years that there was no space left at the Gryffindor table for them to sit. The last student sat on the stool. Snape placed the hat upon his head. There was a long pause. The boy had his eyes closed tightly. Seconds seemed to pass like minutes. Breathing in the hall had all but stopped as everyone waited for the hat to speak.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted at last. Whispering broke out around the hall, some confused shouts others cries of protest. Professor Dumbledore rose, his hands outstretched for quite, when it did not come he spoke in a loud booming voice that reverberated off the walls and seemed to drowned out all other sounds.

"If you will please quite down for a moment," Dumbledore said. As he finished speaking the hall became silent once again. "It is an unusually sorting but it is the sorting none the less. For the moment I ask that our new Gryffindors take seats at the other house tables until seating arrangements can be made." Dumbledore waited for the standing first-years to find places.

"I have a few, brief, start of term announcements and then we will begin. Firstly I would like to introduce our new defense against the dark arts teacher, Professor Solaris." Harry looked at Hermione who had let out a gasp. Sitting next to Snape was a man in a white cloak one hand raised in the air to identify him from the rest.

Ron seeing the looks on Harry and Hermione's faces spoke up.

"You know him?"

"Yeah," said Harry uneasily, was Solaris going to follow him around all year long? "Later." Harry said fixing Ron with an unmistakable stare. Ron nodded.

"Secondly I would like to remind you that the dark forest is off limits to all students, many of our older students would do well to heed that warning." Dumbledore's eyes came to rest on Harry before flicking away. In that brief instant Harry felt a sharp pain. He bit his tongue to keep from shouting out.

"Lastly, and most unfortunately all trips to Hogsmead have been cancelled this year." Moans and cries of protest came from the crowed of students. Dumbledore waited for the sounds to subside. "Now I think a good feast in is order." And with those words the plates filled with food.

---

"So," asked Ron as he began to fill his plate, "what happened to you? And who's that bloke?" Ron said nodding to Solaris who was talking to Snape.

"It really is a long story Ronald." Hermione said as she cut into a roll she had taken. "And I don't think this is the place…" Hermione leaned to her side in surprise as arms entangled themselves around Harry.

Harry seemed just as surprised, looking over his shoulder he found Ginny embracing him in a hug.

"Uh," Harry stammered his brain failing, "Hi Ginny!" Harry said. She glared at him. "I mean Gin!" Harry corrected quickly. She gave him a peck on the top of his head and then sat down next to him.

Ron's eyes were budging out of his head.

"Gin? Harry, have you gone mad?" Ron cried. "I think you had better explain this too!"

"Oh push off Ron!" said Ginny curtly. "It's none of your business!"

"None of my business, I'm… Ouch!" Ron cried looking at Hermione awestruck. "What'ca step on my foot for 'mione!" Ron protested. "I swear the whole lot of you are nutters sometimes."

Harry became uneasy as attention from other tables seemed to be drawing to them.

"Later." Harry hissed. Ron's eyes flared, obviously later wasn't good enough. Harry was about to say something else when Neville, of all people broke in.

"Harry," he said in almost a whisper, "some of us have been wondering, about, you know." Neville said looking around as if to see if anyone was listening in. Harry didn't know he couldn't fathom what Neville was talking about.

"I," Harry began but stopped as Hermione shot him a threatening look.

"Harry will contact you by the normal means when we are ready to start again." Hermione said coolly. "Until then keep quiet." Neville looked from Harry to Hermione, nodded and moved back down the table.

"Hermione?" Harry asked as she was reaching for her pumpkin juice. "What was that all about?" Hermione seemed to swallow some of the drink the wrong way and gave a cough.

"The DA," she said simply.

"What about it?" He asked stupidly.

"I wrote back to a lot of those people that sent you letters about resuming the DA." She said. Harry wasn't sure what to make of this. Why hadn't Hermione talked to him about it? "Look all I said is that you would think about it. If you decide to resume it we can contact them via the Gallons and tell them that the DA will continue. If not you can tell them that it's over."

Harry nodded dully. That made sense. A part of him very much wanted to continue with the DA, but a part of him wanted nothing to do with it at the same time. Why had they picked Dumbledore's Army, of all the names?

The rest of dinner was spent with Ron shooting Harry uncertain looks and Ginny's hand often wandering uncomfortably onto Harry's leg.

---

When at last the plates cleared Ginny kissed Harry on the check and went off to help round up the first-years. Harry was still off balanced by this and Ron didn't seem to be taking it too well either.

Harry, Hermione and Ron moved out of the hall with the rest of the students. Harry was ready for bed despite the fact he had been asleep for who knew how long.

Harry felt a hand push him from behind and he stumbled forward into a group of third-year girls. People cleared away in a circle as Harry regained composure and turned to see who had pushing him. But he knew the answer already.

Malfoy stood his wand out pointed at Harry.

"How dare you attack me Potter!" Malfoy shouted, "_Marillos Embraon!"_ Fire erupted from the end of Malfoy's wand. With very little time to think Harry held his hands as if to catch the fire. The ball of flame impacted with something reflective and few off towards ceiling.

People were shouting in panic as ash rained down from the burn spot, Malfoy had already vanished into the crowed of people. Shocked Harry could do nothing but stand there, his hands still out in front of him.

'I didn't even draw my wand,' Harry thought, 'How could I have possibly deflected that attack?' Snape reached the crowed of students forcing them aside.

"Out of my way, out of my way! Potter," Snape said, shock on his face. "What have you done?"

"It wasn't me!" Harry said, "It was Malfoy he…" Snape shot Harry a poisonous look and then turning to everyone he said.

"Back to your dormitories, now!" Snape stood watching as the students dissipated. Harry was still in shock looking at his hands. His palms had been burned, blisters were forming on them and blood was oozing out from charred flesh.

Harry felt a hand grab him sharply under the arm and pull him through the crowed. They were on the far side of the hallway now. Snape was still shouting at students to disburse. They moved slowly as though they were afraid that once they left his sight they too might be attacked.

"Come on Harry," Hermione said, her eyes filled with fear. She took hold of Harry's wrist to look at his burnt hands. "We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey." Harry would have normally protested that he was fine, but he thought that his might be one of those times where Hermione knew far better than he did what needed to be done.

---

Harry sat on the hospital bed his hands wrapped in bandages. The pain he had begun to feel on the way to the hospital wing was receding a little.

Hermione and Ron were sitting with him, not talking. The disgruntled gleam in Ron's eye seemed to have subsided for the moment.

Harry heard the doors of the hospital wing open and in marched Professors Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey tried to intercept them but with a quick few words from Dumbledore, she let them pass with no further protest and a look of surprise on her face.

Dumbledore stood at the foot of Harry's bed flanked by Snape and Professor McGonagall.

"I understand," Dumbledore said in a kind voice, his eyes not meeting Harry's. "That there was an attack outside the great hall."

"It was Malfoy!" said Harry in a panic. Something was wrong but he didn't know what.

"It could not have been Mr. Malfoy." Snape hissed coldly. "He was at the head table at the time of the attack." Harry couldn't believe this! Snape was going to cover Malfoy? He knew Snape was a slimly git but this was a step to far, even for him.

"It _was_ Malfoy!" Harry shouted angry. "He pushed me from behind and then attacked with some kind of fire spell!"

"I am afraid Professor Snape is correct Mr. Potter." McGonagall said in a pained voice. "I was speaking with Mr. Malfoy. He could not have been in two places at once."

"How exactly did you say you deflected this alleged attack?" Snape said his eyes narrowing. Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing now, was he a suspect in his own attack?

"Look," Harry said, "It was Malfoy, I saw him, Hermione saw him! Ron saw him!" Harry looked over at Ron. Ron looked sheepish. "Tell them Ron." Harry said. Ron fidgeted in his seat. "Well!"

"I… I didn't see Malfoy." Ron said his voice apologetic. "I didn't see anyone Harry." Harry looked at Ron as though he had gone crazy.

"Hermione?" Harry said turning to face her, she was looking at the floor trying to avoid Harry's gaze.

"Let me paint a different picture for you, Mr. Potter." Snape interrupted as his hands gripped the end of the bed, his knuckles turning white. "You attacked someone you thought was Malfoy."

"What?" Harry gasped in shock. "Why would I…"

"I don't know why," Snape said cutting him off, "do not expect me to know how your mind works, Potter. But it is the only logical explanation." Harry looked quickly to McGonagall, she wasn't looking at him ether. He looked at Dumbledore, surly he of all people would understand.

"Professor," Harry pleaded. "You believe me?"

"I am afraid, Harry, that I must agree with Professor Snape." Dumbledore said sadly. Hermione let out a cry of protest.

"But Harry would never have done it on…!"

Dumbledore held up a hand and the room was silent.

"I am afraid I have no choice but to take 500 points from Gryffindor and give you detention for the rest of the school year." Dumbledore said. Harry couldn't believe this, how could Dumbledore be so blind, the fool! The arrogant, stupid fool. Harry's heart exploded in his chest his hands burned his scar boiled on his head.

Snape released the end of the bed and stepped back as though he could see the rage that was building in Harry.

"It's open Headmaster!" Snape said his eyes fixed on Harry.

"You will die, old fool." Harry's voice hissed and without knowing what he was doing Harry launched himself at Dumbledore. The bandages burned from Harry's hands as they reached for Dumbledore's throat.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Dun dun dun...

And well that's the end of that, so now I will be on my way and…what? What happens next you ask? I dono how about… we'll say, they all get it on?…is popped in the back of the head by Alex ouch okay, okay I guess I could keep writing.

Thus is Chapter 7, I hopped you liked it and didn't find the cliff hanger too unnerving, don't worry the next chapter should be ready in 3 to 4 months at which point another 7 to 8 weeks to proof and thwack

Ahhh my head, it burns… next chapter coming up tomorrow.

A note from Alex, no Starwins were seriously injured in the making of these authors notes.

Extra Notes:

Chapters 7 and 8 are more or less one chapter however, since this makes for a mighty nice cliff hanger I decided to break them apart here.


	8. – Shadows Rising

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil 

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 8 – Shadows Rising 

Snape staggered away and Professor McGonagall let out a cry of surprise as Harry leapt from the bed. Hands blazing, wrapped in yellow flames.

Dumbledore however did not seem surprised, he seemed almost as if he was expecting this exact reaction. Moving with lighting speed he caught Harry's wrist and held him there.

Pushing with all his might Harry could not force his hands closer to Dumbledore's throat. Dumbledore seemed to be putting up no effort at all to hold Harry in place.

Snape drew his wand and began to say something.

"No!" Dumbledore roared, for the first time fright was in his eyes.

"You are weak," Harry hissed. "You are a fool. I shall kill you, I shall burn you." The air around Harry flickered with light. Snape was flung away landing on his butt and rolling to his back. Professor McGonagall was pushed to the ground. Ron and Hermione who were both sitting were pushed back against the wall, still in their chairs. The hospital privacy curtains toppled over and beds were pushed away.

Dumbledore released Harry's wrist and slid backwards along the floor his feet not lifting from the stone.

The bed Harry had been standing on melted to the ground. The metal bars becoming silver liquid and the sheets vaporizing.

Dumbledore drew his wand as did Harry. The fire enveloped Harry's wand.

"I see, it is as I suspected," Dumbledore said his voice low. Harry snarled at Dumbledore and flicked his wand quickly.

"_Draconus Multiplu_," Harry shouted. Three white serpents erupted from Harry's wand and moved through the air, striking at Dumbledore. Dumbledore lifted his wand and said something under his breath. The white serpents impacted with an invisible wall and shattered.

"_Tranus Feranus_!" Dumbledore said pointing his wand at Harry. Long silver strands sprung from the tip of Dumbledore's wand and wrapped around Harry binding him. Harry struggled against the strands.

"Quickly Professor Snape!" Dumbledore said looking at Snape who had just managed to get to his feet. "You must relock the door before it gets free." Snape pushed a lock of greasy black hair from his eyes.

"I can't," said Snape. "The key is missing. The Dark Lord must have taken it." Hermione looked surprised.

'The key?' Hermione thought, 'He couldn't mean the key she had taken from the memory in the Moonwell on Avalon, could he?'

"Professor," Hermione spoke up, Snape shot her a disgusted look but she continued. "I, I think that I have the key." Dumbledore looked at her for a moment and then nodded to Snape.

"You must both go, quickly!" Dumbledore said. Snape nodded.

"On my count, Legilimens, Miss Granger." Snape hissed. "One, Two, Three!"

"_Legilimens!_" Snape and Hermione both shouted, their wands pointed at Harry.

---

The hospital ward flickered out of existence. Dumbledore, Harry, Ron and professor McGonagall vanished. Snape and Granger stood in the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side. Without words they rushed down it. The sounds of battle grew louder as they moved towards its distant end.

Potter was crouched behind one of the stone supported brazier, his wand out. The door at the end of the hall was open a crack and a black tar seeped out onto the stone wall. A spell shot out from the black mass narrowly missing Granger. Snape and Granger dove for cover behind the brazier across from Harry's. Harry looked battered like he had been beaten up.

"We have to close that door." Snape hissed at Granger. "Where is the key?" Hermione reached into her pocket and found the metal serpent shaped key. She pulled it out and showed it to Snape. Snape reached for it but Granger pulled it away. Snape glared ate her.

"What are you doing foolish girl!" Snape spat. "Give me the key, I have to lock the door!"

"I have a better chance to reach it than you do." Granger said simply. "Cover me and I will lock it." Snape looked outraged, this student, this arrogant know-it-all was presuming that she could do better than him.

Snape was about to protest again when Granger began to transform. Brown fur sprouted all over her body. Her face became longer. Horns grew from the back of her head. A moment latter she was a large tiger like cat standing on all fours, her tail flicking back and forth.

Snape was awestruck. 'A Kasar? But… It isn't possible!' Snape thought as Granger turned away from him becoming invisible. Snape didn't have a choice now, she had the best shot of getting close to the door without being detected. Snape stood looking over the top of the small stone pillar that held a flame on top.

Below the black ooze, slumped dead against the wall, was himself. Snape felt his eyes widen. He had seen this on the night he had invaded Harry's mind. The ooze trickled down the wall towards the guardian image.

Suddenly the guardian image of Snape stood. His head hanging to one side, his eyes red and lidless, his wand outstretched with an unbent arm.

"YOU DIE." It said spitting blood from its mouth as it talked. "I KILL YOU!" And it began to fire spells wildly out into the hall. Snape ducked back behind the pillar as one of he spells zoomed overhead. He had to give Granger cover fire, to draw the attacks away.

"Potter." Snape hissed at Harry. Harry's face was bruised one of his eyes closed as a large purple lump expanded under it. Blood leaked from his split lip. "We have to help Granger! Slicing curses, attack now!" Harry nodded and rolled to his knees.

Snape gripped his wand tightly and stood shouting. "_Cisidus_!" Harry's voice echoed his. Blades of red light sliced the air.

The monstrous version of Snape howled as his arms were torn from his torso. Blood spouted from the empty arm sockets like rivers spraying the floors and the walls. The blood spread out though the air and Granger's form was outlined in a thin splatter of blood.

The monster stopped yelling is red lidless eyes focused now on the blood outlined form in front of it. Granger turned her head to see the monsters mouth opening far wider than was humanly possible. Its teeth growing and becoming jagged blades. It lunged down at her neck intent on snapping it in one movement.

"_Reducto_!" Harry shouted. The monster stopped, surprise on its face. A moment latter its head began to shrink its skin pulling inwards towards its nose. The sides of its head collapsed and with a disgusting pop a pink cloud of brain mass hovered for a moment over the neck of the monster before it fell sideways to the floor.

The way cleared Granger became visible again transforming from Kasar to wizard. She reach the door and jammed the key into the lock but she could not get the door closed.

Snape stood and sprinted to the door, his body slammed against it but the door moved only slightly. The black ooze quickened its escape moving further out along the walls, its tendrils spreading out, enveloping the stone.

Loud footsteps echoed off the walls and Harry, running full tilt, launched himself at the door. His body collided heavily with the door. Snape heard a crack as bone was broken.

The door slammed shut. The black ooze stopped moving it was frozen against the wall. There was a click as Granger locked the door.

"_Lumos Excendos_!" Snape shouted. Blinding white light filled the hall way. Even Snape had to close his eyes.

When the light faded they were standing back in the hospital wing, Harry lay on the floor collapsed and Granger stood next to Snape, her hands over her mouth.

---

Harry sat up, Malfoy had attacked him he had somehow managed to block the spell and… and then what had happened? Harry's hands hurt he looked at them in the pale light of the hospital ward. They were blurry without his glasses but he could see they were wrapped in blood stained bandages. Using his teeth Harry tore the bandages form his left hand.

From the pain Harry felt he was expecting to see cuts or burns all over them, but there wasn't anything. Maybe it was because he didn't have his glasses on. He reached over to the night stand next to the bed to feel around for his glasses and became aware of something pressed against his leg.

Harry looked down to find mound of red hair and a face, sitting on top of folded arms. Harry became felt the coldness of the stone in his robe pocket. The heartbeat from it was slow. Harry pulled the glasses from the stand and put them on his face.

Instantly the world became crystal clear. He looked at his hand again. It still hurt very much but there was no sign of damage to it. Harry's hand moved to his face feeling for, for something, he wasn't sure what but he found nothing unusual here either.

Gently Harry placed his hand against the girls back. It was Ginny, she must have been sitting with him through the night but she had fallen asleep. Harry couldn't imagine what had compelled Madam Pomfrey to let her stay.

Absently Harry ran his hand though Ginny's hair. It was soft to the touch. As his hand reached the top of her head he could see a smile on her face. She was still asleep but Harry felt the heartstone in his pocket warm.

Harry sat watching Ginny as she slept his hand stroking the back of her head in slow gentle movements. She had off balanced him in the hall. He hadn't been prepared for her to show him such affection. But sitting here, with her, like this seemed so right that Harry couldn't imagine how it could have been any other way before.

Harry was so lost in his thoughts about Ginny that when she opened her eyes to watch him back Harry did not notice.

---

"What are you doing in here!" Harry heard. He kept his eyes closed. It sounded like Madam Pomfrey. "It is not visiting hours yet Miss Weasley! Don't tell me you have been here all night! You're a Prefect I would have expected better from you, out, out, out!" The voice became fainter as it moved away from Harry.

Harry opened one eye to see if the coast was clear and saw Madam Pomfrey pulling Ginny out the front door and following after her, obviously intent to have a few more words with her where they wouldn't wake Harry.

Harry sat up and reached for his glasses pulling them off the folded paper they had been set on. Getting out of bed Harry found his clothing dressed and moved towards the door intent to leave.

Just before he reached the exit Madam Pomfrey reappeared. Her eyes locked on Harry furiously.

"Where do you think your going!" she said. "Get back to bed!"

"I'm fine," Harry said holding up his hands. "They didn't hurt anymore." Madam Pomfrey grabbed one of Harry's hands and held it out as if to check for dirt. She turned it over and examined the back side. She looked confused.

"How is this possible?"

"I'm fine," Harry said again trying to pull his hand free. "They don't hurt at all. Can I go?" Madam Pomfrey looked at him with suspicion.

"Very well," she said pulling a pad of paper from her apron and writing something down on it. "But if you hurt at all I want you to come back right away Mr. Potter." She handed him the note. Harry pushed the note into his pocket thinking that coming back for a little bit of discomfort would be the last thing he would do.

"I will," Harry lied desperate to leave. With one last look that seemed to be focused on reading his mind Madam Pomfrey finally stepped aside and let him pass.

---

With a few quick steps Harry was able to catch up with Ginny who hadn't made it very far down the hall. She turned to find Harry walking very fast towards her.

Ginny's eyes lit up and a smile moved across her face.

"Harry!" She cried spiriting at him and wrapping her arms around him. Then she pulled back closing her eyes and leaned forward her mouth forming into a kiss. Harry grabbed her shoulders gently and held her in place. Ginny's face filled with surprise and confusion.

"Ginn… Gin," Harry said in as soft a voice as he could manage. "I think we need to talk about some things first." She looked hurt.

"Like?" Ginny asked her voice had a dangerous edge to it. Harry took a deep breath, 'why do girls have to be so difficult to talk to.'

"Like…" Harry said pausing, his brain not knowing what to say next. It just seemed to be sitting blank, whirling on itself. 'LIKE!' His head shouted at him. Ginny was still searching his face trying to get some direction of where he was going.

"I dunno," Harry said, this was obviously not the right thing, "this is just too fast I mean, I dunno, Gin. Maybe we need more time first and…" Ginny pushed his hands off her shoulders and took a step back.

"Well, Mr. Potter," she said in mock formality. "When you do know maybe you can tell Hermione!" Ginny turned and stormed off. Harry stood there not really know what had gone wrong or what he had said to make her so angry.

Shaking his head Harry walked on. It had to be breakfast time by now and he was starving. He turned the corner and bumped into, to his horror, Cho Chang. There were a group of other girls around her. Their talking stopped as everyone stood in silence.

"I…I'm sorry," Harry stammered. And to Harry's great surprise Cho slapped him across the face her eyes were narrow and hateful.

"You stay away from me!" She said fiercely and with the rest of the girls covering their mouths they stormed off down the hall.

Harry stood dumbstruck his hand feeling the place where Cho had slapped him. What was it with him and girls today?

"Harry!" Shouted a voice from his right, Harry wasn't sure he could deal with another person right now. Turning to see who it was he saw Ron and Hermione, who was waving, moving towards him. For a moment Harry felt the sudden urge to turn and run. But instead he just stood there rubbing his face stupidly.

"Oy, Harry!" Ron said, "What happened to your face?" Harry could still feel the sting.

"It's nothing," Harry said wanting very much not to talk about it.

"Was Malfoy expelled?" Harry asked remembering the attack. Hermione and Ron exchanged glances and then Hermione spoke.

"No Harry," Hermione had a pleading look in her eye. "Malfoy didn't attack you last night."

"But I saw him!" Harry said. "Hermione you saw him!" Harry felt panicked he felt like he'd had this conversation before.

"Some one tripped last night and accidentally hit you with a fire charm. Your hands got burned a little Madam Pomfrey said you would recover in no time." Hermione said her voice was breathy and for some reason Harry couldn't place he knew they weren't truthful. It just didn't sound right. Harry couldn't recall being lead up to the hospital wing or being treated for burned hands. Ron looked uneasy.

"But I saw Malfoy!" Harry pressed.

"Harry," Hermione said forcefully. "It was just an accident, no one attacked you."

"And you certainly didn't attack anyone." Ron added. Hermione shot him a fierce look. Now Harry knew something was wrong. Ron could keep secrets just as well as Hagrid could.

"I don't think your telling me everything." Harry pressed he felt annoyed now, why were his friends lying to him?

"Oy!" Ron said, "We have potions! Come'on or Snape'll have our heads!" And Ron and Hermione hurried off Harry following behind them, watching two people he didn't seem to know at all.

---

Snape had become, if possible, worse. It was only the first day and already they were starting with the Contridicurous Potion, a very difficult mixture to complete. Snape hovered behind people hissing at them when they put a component in a second too soon or removing the entire potion when it turned just the wrong shade of blue. The only good point to this is that he seemed to be coming down on the Slytherin students just as hard as the Gryffindors. The only person, Snape ignored completely was Harry.

When Harry had raised his hand to ask a question Snape totally ignored him and called on Hermione for the first time in what Harry thought might be forever.

At the end of class as they handed in their potions Snape grabbed Harry's wrist.

"Potter," Snape hissed. "You will remain after class." Snape released his crushing grip and Harry pulled his hand back.

Snape dismissed the class, Ron and Hermione did not wait for him but left as quickly as everyone else. Harry was starting to feel angry now.

Snape moved to the door as the last student exited. He shut and locked the door then turned around his eyes focused on Harry.

"We will continue your Occumancy training, starting tonight at 8 o'clock." Snape hissed. "You will not talk about it with anyone." Snape moved uncomfortably close to Harry. Harry felt his hands ball into fist, he wanted to strike Snape.

'Take one more step closer to me,' Harry thought, 'and I will break the slimy nose of yours.'

"You will also not ask about the events of last night." Snape added his eyes intense and threatening. The anger that had been building in Harry vanished.

"What?" Harry asked in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because the Headmaster has asked that you do not." Snape said coldly. "Surly you read the letter he left for you!"

'What letter?' Harry thought. He couldn't remember any letter being left by Dumbledore for him.

"He didn't give me any letter," Harry said in protest. Snape looked disgusted.

"Potter, it often confounds how you are still alive, since you seem to always miss the obvious." Snape sneered. He turned from Harry and moved to his desk, pulling a white envelope off it, returning to Harry and handing it to him. Harry took it and looked defiantly back at Snape.

"Well, Potter?" Snape hissed. "Get out of my class." Snape flicked his wand and the door unlocked and opened. There were students waiting outside. Harry pushed his way past them and moved down the corridor feeling their eyes on his back and their whispers in his ears.

---

Harry wasn't sure what class he had next. He had missed breakfast and thus hadn't received a schedule. He looked at the envelope in his hand. He thought about tearing it in half for a moment and casting it to the floor but finally decided he wanted some answers.

Harry pulled the envelope open and retrieved two folded pieces of different sized parchment from it. Harry opened the smaller one first and found it was his class schedule, transfiguration was next. Harry pushed the schedule into his pocket and opened the next letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_There are events that occurred last night of which it would be to your benefit not to inquire about. I therefore ask that you do not press your classmates to tell you about them, as they have been bound by a magical contract not to answer._

_Professor Snape has agreed to continue your Occlumancy lessons. Your first class will begin tonight._

_Lastly I have asked that your lifetime ban form Quidditch be removed, the Ministry of Magic is looking into it and I will inform you of their decision when one has been reached._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry looked over the first sentence a few times. He wasn't stupid. He knew what must have happened last night, why he couldn't recall the events after the incident in the hall. Ginny had once described it to him.

Voldemort, he was being possessed by Voldemort. What had he done last night, had he killed someone? Harry didn't know. He felt uncomfortable inside like he knew the answer. Whatever he had done, whatever had happened his actions were bad enough that Dumbledore had swore all of his classmates to secrecy.

---

Harry was the last one to enter the transfiguration class room. Every seat had been filled except for the desk at the very front of the room. Harry sat down. There was no one in the spot next to him.

Even though Harry was late for class Professor McGonagall said nothing, she just watched as he found his seat and sat. After reading Dumbledore's letter Harry felt like everyone in the room was watching him.

'Maybe I deserve their hate and suspicion.' Harry thought. 'I am a tool for Voldemort, at any time I could spring to his bidding and kill people for him.' Harry slumped in his seat.

Professor McGonagall was talking but Harry was vaguely aware of her words.

"This year we will be studying the art of the Animagus." McGonagall said. "Along with many other self transfiguration spells. These spells are very difficult and not everyone here will be able to master them.

"Today we will begin with some very basic self transfiguration. Please turn to page 192 of your Advanced Transfiguration text books." McGonagall said as she turned and began to write on the board.

Harry had zoned out lost in his thoughts as he stared at his desk. The voice that seemed to be talking in some far off distant place was repeating one word over and over. Harry snapped back to find all eyes on him. Professor McGonagall looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Perhaps, now that your awake, you would like to join us in reading page 192, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked.

"Oh," Harry said looking around some of the people in the class were sniggering. Harry reached down to find he hadn't brought his book bag with him. "I'm sorry professor I didn't have time to get my books." McGonagall frowned at Harry.

"Very well Mr. Potter you may use one of the class books." She said indicating one of the small shelves of books at the front of the room. Harry stood and pulled one of the heavy books off the shelf. He could feel everyone watching him, like he was some kind of thing to be paraded out and gawked at.

Harry returned to his desk everyone still watching him. He opened the book and tried to read but the words just didn't make any sense. He didn't want to read them right now. He wanted more than anything in the world to be able to get up and walk out of class.

Despite his inattentiveness Professor McGonagall did not single him out again. She seemed to be content with him focused blankly on the book in front of him, even if he was still on the same page he had opened it to.

---

At last when class ended people hurried out of the class room. Harry didn't move to rush out with them. He would let them get away from him if that was what they wanted. Against all hope Ron and Hermione finally approached him. Hermione looked sternly at him. Professor McGonagall was watching them closely from her desk, monitoring their every move like a hawk.

"Harry," Hermione said at last. Harry shot her a look, he wanted her to go away and leave him alone. "Look, Dumbledore swore us to a magical oath last night and…"

"I know," Harry said dully his mouth hidden behind his folded arms on the desk. Hermione looked uneasy. "Snape gave me a letter from Dumbledore. They have a right to avoid me, I might attack them next for all I know."

"Oh, no," Hermione said uncertainly. "No, they are avoiding you because Dumbledore told them not to talk to you about last night. And, well I don't think any of them trust themselves not to tell you what happened if you pressed them." Harry glanced up at her.

"I don't want to know anymore," Harry said his eyes full of sadness. Harry sat up and grabbed his bag, with one last look at Ron and Hermione he stood and left the room not hearing them follow behind him.

* * *

Authors Notes:

If(Chapter 8 done)thenwrite authors notes true;

Notes, notes lets see I know I have some notes some place. Humm well I don't seem to have any notes on this chapter at the moment…

Thanks for the Reviews. Ego boost are always need. Please keep them coming as reviews keep me coming back to write.

I have the next 5 chapters written already and though you might wonder why they aren't going up as well I still have to proof and check for character, story and plot continuity.

They will be up soon, so, in the words of the great Douglass Adams, "Don't Panic"

I guess that's all for now. ttfn


	9. – Phoenix Song

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 9 – Phoenix Song

Herbiology was next but Harry decided he wasn't going. He didn't think he could take another class of people staring at him or whispering behind his back.

Harry stopped at The Fat Lady she blocked his way and Harry realized he didn't know the new password yet, he hadn't remembered to ask anyone.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked. Harry looked blankly at her.

"I haven't been told the new password yet." Harry said. "But, you know who I am, can't you let me past, just this once?" The Fat Lady raised an eyebrow at him.

"I am sorry dear but no password, no entry." Harry stood uncomfortably. How long would he have to stand out here like an idiot, waiting until someone came to let him in. Then Harry remembered, he didn't need a password! Harry looked at the Fat Lady and smiled. She smiled back uneasily.

"Sure you won't reconsider," Harry asked in a sly voice.

"I am sorry I can't let you in without a password!" The Fat Lady said looking genuinely sorry.

"Okay," Harry smiled, "Not a problem." Harry glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching and then focusing his thoughts he felt hands begin to change. The transformation came quicker this time. He needed less focus.

Talon stood in the hallway in front of the Fat Lady and then an instant latter he was hovering inside the Gryffindor common room. Talon had teleported to the ceiling so that if someone was in common room he would arrive unnoticed.

At first Talon thought that the room was empty but as he landed on the floor he heard a soft crying coming from the sofa. Talon panicked. Had this person seen him? He couldn't risk changing back yet, after all he was an unregistered animagus and at least for the moment he didn't really want anyone else to know.

With a quick flap of his wings Talon hopped to the back of the sofa.

Laying facedown and crying into her hands was Ginny. She had not noticed him enter and she had not looked up.

Talon felt a sadness he could not define. It was more profound than anything he had ever felt. Ginny was crying like this because of him. It was his fault that she was so upset. Talon could only think of one thing to do. He had to say he was sorry, he had to apologize for his stupid remark even if he didn't understand what it had been.

Talon opened his mouth and began to sing. Ginny sat up suddenly. Tears wet her face as they still streamed form her eyes but as the song continued the tears subsided and she listened to the enchanting melody as it filled her ears.

---

Time seemed to stop as Ginny watched the phoenix sing to her. It seemed to be a song meant only for her. She couldn't believe there was really a phoenix, here, singing, to her. She watched in unblinking eyes as the red-gold Phoenix with black tipped feathers brought the beautiful song to a close.

Ginny sat speechless, she had never had a phoenix sing just for her. In the nightmares that tormented her still the only bright spot of light was the phoenix song, sung by the phoenix that had carried her from the Chamber of Secrets. But it was nothing like this one.

Ginny was on the edge of tears again. Her nightmares frightened her. She was reminded of the reason why she was up here crying in the first place. The Phoenix song was not the only thing that keep the dark dreams from destroying her at night. But the other reason was too painful to think about now.

As if she had summoned the images up, Harry appeared in her mind, he was holding her in his arms, he had saved her and Tom was gone forever.

Ginny began to cry again, she had lost Harry. It had been her fault, she had rushed it and Harry wasn't ready. Ginny could barely see the phoenix now through the tears in her eyes.

Suddenly something happened, the phoenix seemed to grow, become bigger. Ginny toppled backwards off the sofa as the bird became a man. Ginny felt a rush of fear.

'Not a man!' She thought. 'Harry!'

---

Harry sat on the back of the sofa his feet on the cushion and Ginny looking up at him from the floor.

"I'm sorry." Harry said looking down at her, his green eyes filled with sadness. "I, I didn't mean to make you cry again." Ginny sat on her butt, her knees together, looking up at Harry wanting to jump up and crush him in a hug. But she didn't think she could stand.

'What if I hug him and he runs away?' Ginny thought. 'Or worse what if I make him feel uncomfortable around me.'

Harry moved off the top of the sofa and knelt down next to Ginny, her eyes were wide in confusion. Harry wrapped his arms around her in an awkward sideways hug.

"I'm sorry Gin," Harry said into her hair. "I don't ever want to make you cry again." Ginny grabbed Harry's arm wrapped around her chest and squeezed it.

"No," Ginny chocked out tucking her chin down against his powerful arm that held her tightly. "I'm sorry too, I just didn't think…" Harry had released her and took her firmly by the shoulders. Gently Harry turned her to face him. Ginny couldn't find words as she looked into his eye. He seemed so sad and at the same time, the stone in her pocket was almost burning, the rhythm pounding so fast that she thought it might explode.

Harry leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Ginny sat there dumbstruck.

'He is kissing me!' her brain screamed. Harry broke the kiss looking at her eyes uncertainly. And then Ginny, her brain finally reigniting, dove back in, to kiss him back.

---

Together Ginny and Harry sat on the sofa watching the fire in the fire place as it danced. They had their arms tightly around each other and their hands clasped together, fingers interlocked. Ginny was resting her head on Harry's shoulder. She didn't know how long they had been sitting like this but it didn't seem like long enough.

People had been coming back into the common room for some time but Harry seemed not to be aware of anyone beyond her. Every now and then he would squeeze her shoulder and kiss the top of her head to remind her that he was still there. But she didn't need reminding.

---

Harry shook Ginny and her eyes snapped open.

"I think we should get some sleep." Harry said. Ginny blinked and looked around the common room was empty and the sky was dark outside the windows. She felt very tired, how late was it?

"There is always tomorrow, Gin." Harry whispered quietly in her ear. "Or perhaps I should say, more of today." Ginny smiled at him and closed her eyes as Harry kissed her again. It was a warm feeling she wanted never to end. She wanted to ask him to come and sleep in her room but she thought that it would be far too fast for Harry. So after returning the kiss she smiled at him and said.

"Goodnight, Harry."

"Night love," Harry said softly back to her. Ginny's cheeks went red and she beamed before turning and heading up the staircase.

---

Harry had thought that when he returned to his dorm everyone would be asleep. And for the moment it seemed he was right. Harry moved back to his bed and pulled off his shoes, too tired to undress the rest of the way. But when he turned to lay back he found Ron standing on the other side of his bed.

Ron's arms were crossed. His face was a mixture of what Harry was pretty sure was anger and shock. Ron had grown over the summer and his pajamas were even smaller on him. Ron's pants looked more like shorts and the sleeves of his shirt cut off midway down his forearm.

Harry was sure he knew what was coming. But it wasn't any of Ron's business what Harry and Ginny did.

Ron leaned forward his face coming close to Harry's now.

"Don't you try anything funny with my sister," Ron said angry. "If I find her crying I'll beat you senseless." Harry put a hand on Ron's shoulder.

"You know I'll do my best for her," Harry said looking Ron in the eye. Ron stood for a moment as if these words were very difficult to understand. Finally Ron nodded and trotted off to his bed pulling the covers over himself and turning away from Harry.

Harry had the feeling he hadn't heard the end of this. But right now he didn't care, right now all he wanted to do was lay awake and think of Ginny.

---

The walls were dark, there was a table filled with many different sized tea pots and cups. Harry blinked −his mind was somewhat fuzzy. He didn't feel like he was asleep but he didn't feel awake either.

Sitting at the other end of the table was a very old man with a long white beard and a floppy blue hat. It took Harry a moment to realize who it was.

"Merlin?" Harry asked confused. "What, am I have dreams of memories of memories now?" Merlin smiled at him. At least it was a change from the dark places Harry usually went to, from the nightmares that tormented him.

"I am not quite a dream," Merlin said kindly, his eyes twinkling. "When you visited me on Avalon part of my memory stayed with you. All that visit me are given such a gift."

Harry wasn't sure he'd called it a gift, it seemed more like another invasion of his mind, Voldemort, Snape and now Merlin. Though Harry had to admit he preferred Merlin over the other two.

"So," Harry asked. "You're in Dumbledore mind as well?" Merlin's eye twinkled again and Harry suddenly realized something. "That twinkle, in your eye, it's the same one in Dumbledore's eye." The pieces fell magically into place. "You're the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that." Merlin said thoughtfully stroking his long white beard. "Though Albus and I have had many long discussions. Like me, he is a man who likes his socks warm." Harry was startled for a moment, what did socks have to do with anything? "But I am not here to talk about Albus. Your un-waking thoughts summoned me to your dream because your mind is in turmoil."

"So?" Harry asked. "What if it is? You're just a memory! You told me you don't even have any power outside that cave. What could you possibly offer to help me thousands of miles away?"

"My wisdom and a guiding voice," Merlin grinned. "Magic in all its form and glory is but only one part of a man. Even without the help of magic the world still turns."

Harry thought for a moment, his mind was becoming clearer now.

"But I still don't understand," Harry said, "What are you going to help me with, surly you don't have the power to break the link that connects me and Voldemort? And beyond that I can't think of anything else."

"I'm not entirely sure about my reason for being here but I assume we will find out when we get there." Merlin said standing. Harry wasn't sure what he meant. When they got where? Harry rose too and the table vanished. The dark walls became illuminated. He was in a cave. Harry knew this place. He had been here before, many times, in his nightmares.

"You know this place?" Merlin asked as Harry looked around. They seemed to be at a dead end with a long passage leading away. But Harry knew that wasn't true, it wasn't a dead end. The passage had been blocked by a cave-in.

"Yes," Harry said dryly. "This is the cave before the door to the Chamber of Secrets." Harry turned to look down the long stone cave. "It's this way." Harry felt like he was being pulled on invisible strings towards the end of the passageway. Harry knew this feeling, it was the same feeling he felt in the dreams about the third-floor. Merlin did not speak as they walked but Harry was aware of his presence none the less.

Finally they reached a large circler metal door with carvings of snakes upon. Harry knew this door, it was the door to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry knew how to open it, he began to speak but Merlin's hand grabbed him fast and Harry went silent.

"I would recommend against opening this door." Merlin said eyeing the snakes. As Harry had begun to speak the snake carvings had seemed to move but the door had not opened.

Harry still felt compelled to open the door to see what was beyond it. But Merlin's hand seemed to keep the feeling manageable.

"I do not think this will be the last time you return to this door in your dreams." Merlin said as he turned Harry and started to lead him away. "There is nothing beyond the door you want to see."

"Harry, help me!" Harry whirled. The voice it had been Ginny's. It had come from inside the Chamber of Secrets. Harry remembered what he was doing here. He was here to save Ginny from the Heir of Slytherin! Merlin held him fast as Harry struggled against his grip.

"Ignore it," Merlin said his voice still kindly. "There is no one or thing beyond that door that needs your rescue." The voice became louder and more pleading. Harry knew there was only one thing for him to do.

Focusing Harry transformed. Feathers grew quickly to replace his fingers and he became Talon. Merlin was shouting something but Harry didn't listen, Ginny needed his help. Harry imagined the other side of the door the Chamber beyond. Fire burst out around him and… this wasn't right, this wasn't the other side of the door.

Darkness stretched out around him tendrils of black smoke wrapped around his wings, body and talons. Talon struggled against the shadows.

'Open the door,' the shadows whispered. 'it is the only way out. I will let you go.'

"No!" Talon shouted back. Talon begun to grow, the red-gold feathers vanishing. He couldn't hold his animagus form anymore. Harry felt tired like the life had been drained from him.

This thing, it was, evil. Harry couldn't give it any other name. He felt the warmth being pulled from his body. He was going to die. Die in this dream. Even though Harry knew this was impossible he knew it was the truth.

The shadow wrapped tighter.

Suddenly the door burst open. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna all stood at the circle of light. The shadow sunk back for a second and then rushed the light.

"_Lumos Excendos!_" Harry's friends all roared. The darkness begun to recede. Harry felt its grip loosen, he fell from its entwining grasp onto the cold stone floor. Warm arms were wrapping around him. His friends they were carrying him out the door.

The darkness raced towards them the moment they had all cleared the door large circler doorway. Harry reached out his hand weakly trying to will the door shut and to his amazement it slammed closed.

---

Harry awoke, it was morning and the bedroom was empty. No one had woken him for breakfast, if that was even the time. He was still in his day cloths he sniffed himself and decided that he didn't smell too bad. Harry found some socks and pulled his shoes on, then head out to the Gryffindor common room.

To his surprise Ginny was waiting there for him. She smiled as he entered and got up to give him a kiss. Harry embraced her as he kissed her back well they stood at the bottom of the boy's stairwell. There was no one else in the common room.

"Good morning love." Ginny said with a smile.

"Morning is it?" Harry asked. "I hope we aren't too late for breakfast." Ginny's smile grew a bit.

"I brought some up for us." Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and led him over to the sofa, two plates with food sat on the table. Ginny picked up one of the plates and handed it to Harry.

They sat and at breakfast together, it was very pleasant. Even though Harry had done it loads of times with Hermione over the summer this just wasn't the same. He felt more comfortable with Ginny for some reason. With Hermione he always felt like she was going to ask him a question about something he didn't want to talk about.

But all Ginny did during the whole meal was lean gently against him and shoot him smiles between bites. When at last they finished Ginny gave him a kiss on the forehead and said they had better get to class.

Ginny waved goodbye and told him she would meet him for lunch as she rushed out of the common room. Harry pulled the paper that had his schedule from his pocket. Charms followed by Care of Magical Creatures and finally, after lunch, double Defense against the Dark Arts.

Harry hurried off hopping he wasn't too late for Charms but if he was the reason was more than worth any punishment.

---

Harry was outside the charms door when a cold voice spoke from behind him.

"Potter," the voice spat and Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. "You did not attend your Occulmancy lesson last night." Harry turned and found Snape leaning over him. He had completely forgotten.

"I'm sorry Professor," Harry said sarcastically. Snape looked infuriated.

"Don't you take that tone with me, Potter. 5 points from Gryffindor." Snape hissed.

'That's not fair!' Harry thought.

"We shall try again tonight. If you miss I will take 50 points from Gryffindor. Do I make myself clear, Potter?" Snape said coldly.

"Yes sir," Harry said trying not to let the hate he felt for Snape seep into his voice. Snape turned and walked away down the hall.

'It's too bad Voldemort didn't attack you through me!' Harry thought as he watched Snape turn the corner and vanish out of sight.

---

Harry drifted in and out through charms. His thoughts seemed to stray a lot as Professor Flitwick just didn't seem to have anything very important to say today. Hermione kept shooting him looks, but didn't say anything. And Ron wouldn't look at him at all.

Harry was finally glad when at last they headed down to Hagrid's hut for the care of magical creatures class. He was less enthusiastic however when the Slytherins joined them. Harry had forgotten that they were also in this class.

"Alrig'ht gat'her round now gat'her round." Hagrid's voice boomed. "Dis year we'll be star'ten with humanoid magical creatures. Who can name da 5 types dat are most often considered humanoid?" Hermione's hand went up. Hagrid pointed her out with a smile.

"There are many different types of magical creatures, but only 5 types that are considered humanoid, or human-like. They are Dopple Gangers, Goblins, House Elfs, Centaurs and Seraphim." Hermione recited. Malfoy rolled his eyes and mimicked her, some of the Slytherins laughed

"Dats right Hermione, 10 points for Gryffindor. Dese magical creatures don't much care ta be studied so we'll only be covering a few of dhem. Taday we have a special guest joinin us." Hagrid steeped aside and there behind him was Dobby.

"Now dis is a House Elf." Hagrid said. "One o' the ones dat works fer Hogwarts. His name is Dobby an he'll be happy ta answer any questions you'd like ta ask him."

Dobby bowed very deeply.

"It is Dobby's pleasure to serve Hogwarts." Dobby said beaming.

"Now House Elfs are very loyal creatures…" Hagrid began. Harry listened as Hagrid talked about all the things House Elfs could do. They could perform magic like wizards, but only if they used them in service of their masters. They also lived for a very long time. Harry was surprised to find out two or three hundred years was their normal life span, Dobby was 142.

When at last Hagrid had finished talking some of the students had questions, mostly trivial things, which Dobby was more than happy to answer. Harry cringed inwardly when Hermione finally raised her hand. Harry knew what was coming.

"But why do House Elfs serve masters?" Hermione asked. "It just sounds like slavery to me!" Hagrid looked a bit uneasy but Dobby smiled and answered just as politely as he had all the other questions.

"Its is what we likes to do Miss," Dobby said. "Our role in life. Working for Hogwarts has been the happiest time of Dobby's life, Miss, and Dobby would not trade it for the world." Harry hopped Hermione would not ask the next question he knew was coming.

"But what about before Hogwarts?" Hermione pressed. Dobby's face became distraught. "Was your life happy, before coming to Hogwarts?" Dobby's eyes flicked over to Malfoy whose eyes were locked on Dobby. Malfoy had a sneer across his face.

Dobby didn't answer he just looked between Malfoy and Hermione. Hagrid stepped in.

"I think dat's enough questions fer today. Thank you fer yer time Dobby." Hagrid said turning to the House Elf. Dobby smiled weakly, bowed and then with a pop vanished. Hagrid assigned them a research project to look into all of the humanoid magical creatures and study them.

"Next week," Hagrid yelled at them as they were walking away. "We'll be meeten a goblin so mind yah do your homework now or he won't be pleased to meet yah!"

When they were almost to the castle Hermione toppled suddenly over and she landed in a puddle of mud. Harry turned to see Malfoy, Crab and Goyle standing over her laughing. The Gryffindors turned around as the Slytherin gathered around Malfoy.

"That's where you belong you stupid mudblood!" Molfy spat, "watch where you're walking." Ron was helping Hermione up her robes were splattered in mud.

"Fuck off Malfoy." Harry shouted. "Why don't you go sit on your wand and rotate." Malfoy looked taken aback for a moment and then sneered at Harry.

"Why don't you make me, Potter!" Without thinking, his mind not even reacting Harry crossed the short gap separating the Gryffindors and the Slytherins and balling his fist he smashed it into Malfoy's face with a sickening crack.

Malfoy fell backwards other Slytherins grabbed him. Blood was running from his nose. Harry clenched his fist tight ready to punch him again.

"Yau'll pay foar that Poatter." Malfoy said his hand covering his nose. Harry wasn't sure what snapped but something inside him gave. Logic flew from his brain. That was the final threat he would ever let Malfoy make. Harry pounced.

The other Slytherins let go of Malfoy in surprise and he crashed to the ground as Harry landed on top of him. Harry's fist impacted with the side of Malfoy's head.

Malfoy screamed. Harry let in again. A fist caught Harry in the side if the face. Harry rolled off Malfoy, there was a ringing in his ears. Suddenly the air was filled with screams and shouts. Feet rampaged around Harry as Gryffindors and Slytherins erupted into a brawl.

Harry got to his knees recovering form the blow and saw Malfoy crawling away between the group of people fighting. Harry stood and moved to follow him. A large Slytherin blocked his way. Harry didn't have time for this. He was about to pull out his wand when a fist slammed into the side of the Slytherin's face. Neville appeared, he was out of breath and he had blood on his swollen lower lip.

"Get him Harry!" Neville shouted as he tackled the Slytherin he'd just punched. Harry broke free of the crowed and chased Malfoy.

Finally Malfoy came to a stop and turned to face Harry. Harry stopped a good 12 paces away. Malfoy had his wand out.

"I toald yaou'd pay!" Malfoy said still holding his nose. "_CURSIO!"_

Harry's brain didn't have time to react he hadn't even had time to draw his wand. Pain erupted all over his body. It felt like someone was peeling his skin away and touching branding irons to his raw nerves. Harry couldn't close his eyes, it felt like daggers had been forced into them.

Harry curled on the ground.

'Let me die!' Harry thought, 'this pain can't be real.'

Malfoy's face was contorted in a twisted smile.

"_Exspelliarmus_!" Harry heard someone shout. The pain dimmed but it did not completely fade away.

Malfoy's eyes went wide and he reached down the front of his robe there was something in his hand. Malfoy looked up and then vanished.

---

Someone was helping Harry to his feet. It was Hermione, she had a horrified look in her eyes.

"Thanks 'mione," Harry breathed. His chest still hurt and his arms tingled. "Where did Malfoy go?"

"It almost looked like… but he couldn't…." Hermione said, her arm wrapped around Harry holding him up. Harry was feeling much better, the effects of the curse were fading quickly.

"I'm fine now Hermione, thanks." Harry said straitening up. Hermione held him for a moment and then pulled her hand away.

"HARRY POTTER!" A voice yelled from behind him. Harry and Hermione turned to see a very enraged looking Professor McGonagall marching around the side of the castle. She crossed the space quickly and grabbed Harry forcefully under his arm.

"But it wasn't Harry's fault!" Hermione cried as McGonagall pulled Harry along. "It was, Malfoy he…" but Harry never found out Hermione was about to say because she stopped unable to believe what she was seeing. There standing at the entrance to the castle was Malfoy looking smug.

* * *

Authors Notes:

If you are reading this you have completed chapter 9 of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil. If you aren't reading this than… yeah.

You're fairly sure its Ginny and Harry right? (GW/HP) You're sure, absolutely sure? Cuze I don't ever remember saying that's the grouping for this story. Stories are meant to change. And I guaranty you will all be quite surprised!

(Harry is really in love with his pinky finger… HP/HPPF).

Things you can expect not to see in this Story.

Harry will not become an all powerful god-like being despite whatever signs you think you see.

Explicit sex scenes are just not called for in this work, fan service oh yes, but not hardcore porn, sorry.

As my friend so delicately put it: "you're not gona have Harry fucking Hermione in the ass on Dumbledore's desk well Snape watches and eats pop corn?" to which I replied. "Uh no."

Sorry if that's a turn off for anyone but I am trying to stay as true to the story as possible, with artistic license of course.

Chapter 10 is coming up soon so, if anyone is still reading, you can look forward to it. As always feedback, comments and questions are welcome. Please leave a review if you can!


	10. – The Thinking Place

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 10 – The Thinking Place

McGonagall pulled Harry into her office and closed the door behind her.

"What were you thinking Potter!" McGonagall shouted as she whirled around to face him. The pain from the curse Malfoy had cast had all but faded.

"Malfoy attacked Hermione," Harry said his temper flaring. "He used the Cursiatus curse on me!" Professor McGonagall eyed Harry.

"That is impossible, Potter. Malfoy was the student that came to my office right after the start of the fight. Other witnesses say that it was you who threw the first punch." Harry couldn't believe this. How could Malfoy have gotten to her office so quickly, Harry could think of only one explanation.

"Professor, Malfoy must be able to apparate! That's the only explanation I can think of!" Harry said his eyes searching her face willing her to understand.

"It is not possible to apparate on the Hogwarts school grounds Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "This is the second time you have blamed Malfoy for something he could not have possibly done. I know that you two don't get along very well but really Mr. Potter I think this is uncalled for." Harry was about to protest again but McGonagall kept him silent with a hand.

"I am taking 50 points from Gryffindore for your actions Potter. Violence is not an answer to any problem," McGonagall continued. "You will also receive a weeks worth of detention. You could have put yourself and your fellow students in real danger today."

"Fifty!" Harry cried. "But Professor!"

"I don't want to hear it Potter! Hopefully this punishment will bring into focus more clearly your need to follow the rules. The punishment of the other students involved in the fight will be also discussed." McGonagall stepped aside indicating that this was final and that Harry could go. "Now on your way to the hospital wing and try and keep yourself out of trouble."

---

Harry had no intention of going to the hospital wing a few cuts and scraps could wait till latter. Instead Harry made his way to the great hall. It was lunch time and he had promised he would meet Ginny for lunch.

Harry entered and found that many students were missing from the middle of the Slytherin table, but the Gryffindore table still looked packed. Harry made his way to his normal seat and found Ginny stirring her mashed potatoes. Harry smiled and sneaking up from behind, he embraced her in a tight hug. Ginny gave a little jump as the arms clasped around her body.

"Having a rough day?" Harry whispered in her ear. Harry could hear Ginny smile and the heartstone in his pocket beat quickly. Harry released his hold and sat next to her. Ron and Hermione weren't at the table.

"It's been crazy, Harry, there are so many first-years! I've had to run all over the school escorting them and helping them find their classes," Ginny said. She sounded exhausted. She looked over at Harry and fell into his eyes. A content smile spread across her face. "I'm glad you could make it, I was starting to think you had forgotten about lunch."

"I did forget about lunch," Harry said nonchalantly. Ginny looked at him in surprise. "All I could think about was coming to see you." Ginny smiled and gave him an affectionate push as Harry reached out and grabbed some food.

"By the way," Ginny said her voice changing the subject, "Ron hasn't been giving you trouble has he? Because if he has, you tell me and I will make him sorry!" The image of Ron in his too small pajamas came rushing back to Harry and for a moment he thought about mentioning it. But he knew the punishment she would give him would be far too brutal.

"Nah, Ron's not too bad. I think he hasn't gotten over the shock yet." Harry looked over at Ginny. She was cute when she was eating. Harry leaned closer to her ear. "I have Occulmancy tonight, but wait up for me?" Harry asked.

Ginny beamed at him and could only nod a vigorous yes.

---

Lunch was far too short in Harry's opinion. Ginny had kissed him goodbye on the check and headed reluctantly down to the first-years who were still eating and laughing completely oblivious that lunch was over.

The walk to the Defense against the Dark Arts room seemed to take a long time. The halls were devoid of people for some reason. At last Harry reached door to the class room door, but there didn't seem to be anyone waiting outside. Harry pushed the door open and was surprised to find the room was almost empty except for Hermione and Solaris who had been talking. Both looked at Harry in surprise.

"Where's everyone at?" Harry asked, he couldn't be this late, could he?

"It would seem my first class is currently all in the hospital wing," Solaris said motioning for Harry to come in. Solaris was different somehow, more human like. Harry couldn't place his finger on it but Solaris no longer seemed out of place.

Harry sat at the front of the room and noticed that Solaris' wings, which he had usually wrapped around him like a cloak were different, they weren't made of feathers anymore. Solaris was actually wearing a white cloak and between it Harry could see a black robe and Solaris right arm still in a sling.

"What happened to your armor and your wings?" Harry asked in surprise. Against everything Harry had come to expect, Solaris chuckled.

"I couldn't very well teach wizards looking like that! Far too many are frightened of Seraphim." Solaris said with a smile that Harry thought just didn't look right on him. "I often disguise myself when I travel among wizards or muggles.

"I am glad that you could attend as I have a few questions to ask of you." Solaris said turning and picking something up off his desk. "Your previous teachers left notes, you have had quite a mixed bag." Solaris turned back to face Harry and Hermione, he had papers in his left hand. "However last year, as I have been made to understand, I do not have the correct notes for this class." Harry and Hermione exchanged glances.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has informed me that you taught a Defense against the Dark Arts class last term, Mr. Harry P … Mr. Potter." Solaris said correcting himself. "If you could give me some insight into your teaching I would have a better idea of which areas to focus on." Hermione took a deep breath and looked over at Harry as if to search for an okay. She produced from her binder a sheet of paper and handed it to Solaris.

'Leave it to Hermione to keep notes on everything!' Harry thought with a smile.

Solaris looked over the paper roughly.

"Quite a different lesson plan…" Solaris said after a moment. "Very well, as we have no other students with us today, class dismissed to resume on Friday." Solaris handed the paper back to Hermione and with a nod he turned and headed off to his attached office.

"Hermione do you have all of your notes still?" Harry asked. "I mean all the way back to first year?" Hermione smiled.

"Well, yes actually. Why did you want to barrow some of them?"

Harry shook his head in disbelief as they headed out of the class room.

---

Harry didn't feel like going back up to the Gryffindor common room or heading to the great hall to wait for dinner. He didn't know what the other Gryffindors would think of him. He had lost them 50 points and gotten them all in trouble. Right now what Harry wanted most was to go someplace where no one would stare at him or whisper behind his back.

Hermione, as usual seemed to have the solution. Since it was still light out, she suggested they head outside for a walk.

Outside was cool as clouds drifted across the sky, spread out so that each seemed to be its own island in the blue. The sun was moving towards the horizon but still had a long way to go. But the best part of all was that there was no one else around for as far as they could see.

Harry and Hermione walked down to the lake and began to circle it, heading away from the castle. Hermione led like she had some place in mind for them to go but where it was Harry couldn't imagine. Harry felt as if for a moment they were back on the beach on Avalon.

At last they came to a pile of rocks that looked as if once, long ago, it had been one big rock that had split apart with the passage of time. A tree grew from its top providing shade over a large slab that had fallen into the lake.

Hermione hopped out onto the rock and looked for Harry to follow her. This place was just what Harry was looking for, secluded from the rest of the world. A quite spot hidden out by the lake where you could see for miles across the open water to the shadowy tree filled mountains on the other side. The Hogwarts Castle stood magnificently atop its hill in the distance.

Hermione held out her hand to Harry, he took it and hopped out to the rock. Hermione smiled at him.

"This is my thinking spot," she said letting go of Harry's hand as she took a long look across the lake. Hermione flattened her skirt against the back of her legs and looking behind her she found a place to sit down. "I used to come here sometimes in the morning when I wanted to be alone to think, especially during my third year because I could be here and in class at the same time." Harry sat down next to her. He could see why she liked this place. The noise from the school did not reach this far out. Only the soft blowing of the wind disturbed the perfect quiet.

Harry leaned back and lay against the rock, his torso in the shade and legs in the sun. Harry could hear the gentle lapping of the water against the rock. Harry let his eyes close as he listened to the world around him.

It might be a thinking spot for Hermione but now that Harry was here all thoughts seemed to escape from his head and he just let himself relax.

---

Harry wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep. His back felt sore from the rock. He couldn't have been asleep long because the sun was just barely vanishing behind the mountain across the lake. Harry moved to sit up and found an arm draped around him.

Looking over in surprise he found Hermione nuzzled against his shoulder, one of her legs resting over his and her soft breast pressed against his arm.

Worse he felt arousal in his pants. Harry felt ashamed and sickened with himself. He'd come to think of Hermione like a sister. But the thoughts that were going through his mind right now disgusted him at how excited he was by them. Carefully Harry peeled Hermione's hand off him and gently rolled her to her back. She stirred awake and looked up at him with a dreamy smile.

She was beautiful like this. Harry had the sudden urge to lean down and kiss her but the heartsone in his pocket gave a jumping heartbeat.

"I have to get to Occulmancy," Harry said willing his erection to go away so he could make a dignified exit but it was so hard to do with Hermione lying like that. Her arms draped above her head showing off her mounts.

"Alright," she smiled.

"I'll.. I'll see you latter," Harry said rolling to his feet and hopped the short distance to the shore. Harry walked off quickly not waiting for Hermione to follow. He chanced a glance back to se her still sitting on the rock watching him, her face was unreadable at this distance.

---

Harry banged on the door to the potions room.

"Come in," a voice said from inside. Harry lifted the latch and pushed the door open. Snape sat as his desk papers in front of him. He looked coldly at Harry. "What is it, Potter?" Snape hissed.

"I'm here for Occlumancy lessons." Harry retorted. Why did Snape have to belittle him this way. Snape knew exactly why Harry was here.

"Your Occlumancy lesson does not start for another hour, Potter." Snape sneered. "Close the door, sit and be silent." Harry closed the door and found a seat. He was an hour early. Harry wished he'd remembered to get a new watch as he had left his old one in the wash room on Avalon. Snape moved slowly through the papers it seemed to take forever. A couple times Harry thought about getting up and walking out.

Finally Snape set the last paper aside. He got up and walked around his desk to stand in front of Harry.

"Well Potter?" Snape said. "Stand up!" Harry got out of his seat and stood to face Snape. Snape was taller than he was, taller than most students. Snape had always used the advantage of his height to intimidate students but Harry wasn't afraid of him. Snape moved uncomfortably close towering over Harry but Harry did not retreat he stood his ground.

"Tonight, Potter, we will be focusing on actively defending your mind against attack." Snape turned from Harry and took a few paces away. "Before now all we have worked on is reflex, training your mind to defend itself on its own. However it is only the first step to becoming a proficient user of Occulmancy. Watch and repeat." Snape pulled his want out and tapped his chest.

"_Mentum Protego_!" Snape said. A shimmering bubble surrounded Snape's head for a moment and then vanished. "Do it, Potter."

Harry pulled his own wand out and tapped his chest the same way Snape had.

"_Mentum Protego_," Harry said. Shimmering light filled his eyes. It was as if there was a bubble of some kind of shinny glass around his head.

"Hold that spell, Potter," Snape said as he lifted his wand. "_Legilimens_!" Silver light rushed at Harry. The picture book appeared in his head but it was faint and hard to see. The memories just seemed to be like moving images of color. But unlike all the other times Harry's focus was able to remain in the here and now. After a few seconds Snape lifted his wand.

"Not bad, Potter, it would seem you are innately gifted with the Mind Protection spell. However it will only protect you if you cast it. And to do that you must be able to fight against the Legilimancy magic." Snape raised his wand again. "Now, Potter, you will protect yourself after the attack. _Legilimens_!"

Harry had forgotten how bad these sessions were. As soon as the spell hit him the outside world vanished and he began to relive moments of his past.

Uncle Vernon was locking him in the cupboard under the stairs. A group of boys lead by Dudley were kicking him on the ground. Harry's hands were wrapped around the throat of a small blond headed boy that Harry did not recognize. The connection broke.

Harry looked up at Snape in surprise. What had that memory been, it hadn't been one of Harry's. The memory was already fading.

"What was that?" Harry asked. Snapes face looked pale.

"It was nothing, Potter but as usual your lack of practice makes itself apparent." Snape said his normal unpleasantness not fully recovering yet. "I told you to protect yourself and all you gave me were weapons to use against you. We will try again!"

---

Harry wasn't sure how long they practiced for. Every time Snapes reach into his mind the effect was diminished some but Harry just couldn't get the mind protection spell to work after he was already under legilimens.

Finally Snape did not insist that they go again when, after raising his wand to end the spell, Harry fell to knees on the floor.

"You don't seem to have gotten much better, Potter," Snape said. Harry thought that Snape sounded a little out of breath. "You are harder to attack, yes but I can still attack you with considerable ease. I can tell you have not been practicing at all! Even now your mind is not clear of thoughts, you grant me weapons to use against you at every turn." Harry was breathing hard he didn't feel very well. He had tried to clear his mind but so much was going on, how could Snape even think it possible for him to do.

"We are done, you cannot learn anything more in your pathetic condition." Snape said his wand flicking to the door, it opened. "Get out Potter and practice or next time I will make you wish you had." Harry looked at Snape with disgust but did not retort he was too tired. Harry stumbled towards the door as best he could. He had just cleared the exit when Snape slammed the door shut behind him.

Harry was so tired he could barely stand. He leaned against the wall to rest for a second. He didn't even hear the footsteps approach or the person call out his name.

---

Harry was dimly aware that he was going some place, his brain seemed fuzzy and he couldn't recall where that place was. A voice was speaking in his head, whispering things to him. He felt his feet moving under him with a will of their own. He was so tired. How was he able to stand he didn't know.

He was in front of something now and it was speaking. The voice in his head spoke back and the something in front of them swung away. Harry walked dimly though a narrow passage and found himself in a room with other people. Lots of small other people that watched as he crossed to the stairway at the back.

Slowly he climbed the stairs. He missed once but did not fall and Harry became aware of an arm holding tightly around his waist supporting him. He also felt his arm draped across someone's shoulders and became aware that there must be someone holding him up. Harry looked at the person but their face seemed like a blur. The person's long hair that came out of their head was a sort of brownish orange. Harry couldn't fathom who it could be.

They stopped at a door the person holding him was knocking on it. A tall figure appeared and exchanged words with the voice in Harry's head. They were going into the room. Harry didn't recognize the room. He felt himself being laid on a soft warm bed.

There seemed to be lots of voices in his head now. But Harry was too tired to listen, whatever they were telling him to do they would have to wait till morning.

---

"Your assassin has failed twice now," A high pitched voice said. Harry could make out shapes of two people, their forms burly in the dark. One was standing, the other kneeling. They were in some sort of dimly lit room.

"My Lord," the kneeling man said. "Our assassin is doing the best possible but the targets are well protected and…" the standing man held up his hand for silence. His head turned slowly as if he had heard a sound behind him. The standing man's gaze fell directly on the spot Harry was standing. A pale white face with black lidless eyes watched the spot for a long moment as if trying to see something that wasn't there.

"My Lord?" The kneeling man asked when the man with the black eyes did not say anything. "What is it, what is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," the black eyed man said cruelly. Harry held his breath. He was sure it had been his breathing that had given him away. "Continue." Harry watched as the man with the black eyes looked around the room searching for Harry.

"You ask our assassin to attack students under the watchful eyes of the headmaster of Hogwarts. Even with the gifts you have provided it is a task that takes planning…" the kneeling man continued not looking up as he spoke. Harry watched as the man with the black eyes looked slowly around the room checking every wall as if he were afraid they had ears. At last he turned back to the kneeling man.

"I do not want excuses. Make it clear that they all must die and that another failed attempt will draw my dislike." The standing man said in a cold voice that sent a chill down Harry's spine.

The man kneeling bowed deeper.

"Of course My Lord, it will be as you command."

"Now out of my sight," the standing man hissed. The kneeling man rose slowly, still in a bow and hurried from the room. As soon as the door closed the standing man turned to look at Harry again, his black eyes focusing on the spot where Harry stood.

Harry's scar pulsed with pain. The man with the black eyes stepped closer and the room darkened around him.

"Show yourself," the black eyed man commanded. "You cannot conceal your presence from Lord Voldemort." The man took another step closer stopping just short of colliding with Harry.

Harry put his hands over his mouth and moved sideways. Voldemort's eyes snapped too Harry as he moved away and a sneer crossed Voldemort's lips.

"Harry…" Voldemort said changing direction as Harry backed away. Voldemort's eyes now focused on him. "You are foolish to attempt an invasion of my thoughts." Great glowing red eyes opened behind Voldemort.

'Let it end,' Harry thought. 'Let me wake up!' Voldemort reached out a gnarled hand to grab Harry but before it touched a knock came at the door. Voldemort pulled his hand back and looked at the door with dislike.

"What?" Voldemort hissed coldly.

"My… My Lord," the fat man that stood at the door stammered. "There are hunters, here in the house!" Voldemort whirled and moved quickly to the door not giving Harry a second look.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Thanks for taking the time to read chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it.

I haven't gotten any reviews that seem to need replying too so this will be a brief AN.

So…uh more coming soon…


	11. – ELF

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 11 – ELF

When Harry awoke he felt groggy. It had been a restless night for him. A strange dream was just out of reach of his waking mind. Harry knew there was something important that had happened, something that he needed to remember but the dream was already fading.

Blinking Harry looked around. It was still early morning outside the windows. The sun had not risen above the horizon yet.

Everyone was still sleeping, Harry wasn't fully awake but he didn't want to go back to bed. He couldn't recall clearly the dreams of the night but he had the feeling that they hadn't been pleasant. He felt that if he went back to sleep the nightmares would return.

Harry rolled out of bed and noticed he was still dressed in his day clothing. He didn't recall walking back to the dormitory last night. The Occumancy lesson with Snape had been exhausting and he felt tired from them still.

Harry headed for the shower hopping he could clear his thoughts. The cold water felt good over his body. Felt like it was washing away something filthy. Harry didn't know why but he felt dirty all over.

When Harry at last returned to his dorm room he felt cleaner but still soiled in a way he couldn't place. Everyone was still asleep so Harry decided to head down to the great hall for breakfast.

---

The great hall was nearly empty, save for a few people who were also up this early. Harry found, to his content, that Hermione was one of the few people at the Gryffindor table. She was reading the Daily Prophet.

Harry sat down across the table from her and she lowered the paper a smile coming to her lips.

"You look much better this morning," Hermione said. Harry nodded dimly, he didn't feel much better. His head was still fuzzy and he felt unsure of himself.

Harry caught a glimpse of the title on the paper as Hermione began to fold it. '…Attack… Six Wizards Killed…'

"Hermione can I see that paper?" Harry asked indicating the article on the front. Hermione looked mildly surprised but passed the paper over to Harry. The paper was not as Harry had first thought, the Daily Prophet, but instead found it to be the Quibbler.

Harry turned to the article on the front page and began to read.

_Muggle Attack on Nocturn Ally, Six wizards Killed!_

_By: Rupert Bortain_

_In the late night of September the 4th an attack by the muggle group known as ELF assaulted a residence in Nocturn ally. Six suspected dark wizards were killed in the attack and Even though ELF has not yet claimed responsibility for this attack reports confirm it is indeed their handy work!_

_The ministry of magic has refused to comment officially on this incident saying that instead it was 'an accidental magical explosion' that was responsible for the deaths and that ELF dose not exist._

_Currently the residence in question is being heavily guarded by Aurors. The ministry of magic is denying access to all members of the wizard press, claiming that the so called 'accidental spell' might still be dangerous._

_However inside sources confirm that this attack was carried out with lethal preseason by four muggles in black clothing, using muggle weapons called guns, a very primitive and violent weapon._

_Continued on page 7_

Harry sat wide eyed unable to believe what he had just read.

"Well, it is the Quibbler," Hermione said, "and they do tend to exaggerate the truth most of the time." Harry turned to page 7 and found other articles that seemed to throw the whole front page into question. 'The Stars Are Winking at Me,' and 'Wizard Claims he is Being Stalked by a Super Intelligent Shade of the Color Blue.'

"But I've actually heard about ELF before," Hermione said. "Supposedly they're a secret muggle group that hunts dark wizards. But there isn't any evidence to prove that they even exist, well… beyond articles in the Quibbler."

Harry finished reading the article, there was an uncertain thought bouncing around in his head.

"Hermione," Harry asked, "how would muggles fight against wizards? I mean what can they do against magic?" Harry's mind was thinking back to all the limited experience he'd had with muggles. Harry remembered news reports on the muggle Television talking about murders. Sure muggles killed each other all the time, but muggles killing wizards? Harry wasn't sure he had ever heard anything like that before. It didn't seem like muggles had anything that could fight against even simple spells.

"Well, energy is energy," Hermione said matter-of-factly, "whether made by magic or science. I suppose muggles could have found something that's effective against magic. They are very adept at killing each other you know."

'The same could be said about us.' Harry thought of some of the horrific things he had witnessed over the last 5 years of his life, like the killing curse.

"But honestly, they probably don't even exist, it really is a ridiculous idea." Hermione said as she reached back out for the paper. "There are just too many questions that can't be answered, I mean how dose a muggle even get into Nocturn Ally?"

"A wizard could have let them in," Harry said. "Maybe they aren't muggles, maybe they're a secret branch of the Ministry of Magic."

Hermione scoffed.

"That's even more ridiculous," Hermione said as she picked up a piece of toast.

"Why?" Harry asked. "After all it makes more sense that the Ministry of Magic would have hit-wizards or secret groups out fighting dark wizards."

Harry realized almost immediately after he had said it the reason why Hermione thought it was ridiculous. Fudge, he was an incompetent fool.

For a year after the return of Voldemort Fudge had sat by and done nothing. Harry doubted very much that Fudge would have the balls to take any action against any dark wizards, short of running away.

"They can't be part of the Ministry because, well, because of Fudge." Hermione said. "I'm not even sure where I should start on that."

"Fudge is a fool," Harry said simply with a shrug. Hermione raised any eyebrow.

"Yes, but there is a lot more besides that," Hermione said. "I've been doing some research on the history of the Ministry of Magic. Unfortunately there isn't just one book about it and most don't even seem to have accurate information. It's like the Minister before Fudge buried a lot of the past."

Harry thought for a while not sure what Hermione meant. Something else Hermione had said was stuck in Harry's head, 'Dark wizard hunters.'

"Hermione," Harry said after a long while. She looked up at him fork halfway to her mouth. "Last night I had this dream about," Harry lowered his voice, "about Voldemort," Hermione's eyes got wider, Harry pressed on, "I don't remember all of it but at the end someone said something about hunters downstairs. You don't think these two events might be related?"

Hermione put her fork down and looked seriously at Harry.

"I don't know if they are, but Harry, really you do need to try harder to block out your dreams!" Hermione said breathlessly. Harry was just about to start in again when Hermione's eyes turned to look at something over Harry's shoulder. Harry turned around just in time to be crushed into Ginny chest in a hug. He felt a kiss land on the top of his head.

Ginny released him and sat down by his side.

"Morning," Ginny said brightly as she began to grab food to fill her plate. "Looks like you two have the right idea."

"What?" Harry asked feeling suddenly embarrassed.

"Getting breakfast early," Ginny answered, Harry felt himself relax. "The first-years will be here any minute and they're like a swarm of locus, they eat everything! At least I don't have to lead them around anymore. I don't know what that hat was thinking, there are just too many Gryffindor first-years."

Harry nodded in agreement. His thoughts drifted to the night of the sorting. He found that the memory was vague and much beyond the sorting he couldn't clearly recall his first night back at Hogwarts.

Noise erupted from the door to the great hall and a wave of students coming in for breakfast rushed down the isles. Gryffindor table became packed with people. Harry could barley hear Hermione over the talking around him and she eventually had to make hand motions indicating that they should leave. Hermione grabbed some extra food from the table and the three of them headed for the doors.

"Oy," Ron said as they passed him on the way out. "Where you going breakfast is that way!" Ron said indicating the packed hall. Both Hermione and Harry grabbed Ron and pulled him along. Even outside the gates the shouts and laughter from the hall could still be heard.

---

Harry hadn't had breakfast outside for a long time. Ron complained all the way down to the tree, near the lake, about eating outside.

Harry felt disappointed when Hermione at last announced that they had better get ready for class.

When Ginny had split off, to head for her class, the three of them wandered down to Herbology.

"So, Harry," Hermione asked they were now the only three people in the hallway. "Have you given any thought about the DA meeting?" Harry remained silent thinking. He hadn't given it any thought yet, after all Friday was still such a long ways away.

"No, not really," Harry said after a while. "We don't even know who'll be coming this year."

"I've been doing research and I think we should change the format of the DA," Hermione said. Both Ron and Harry stopped and shot each other uncertain glances.

"Change what?" Ron asked. "Do you want to turn the DA into a study hall or spew maybe?"

"No, Ronald," Hermione said curtly. "And it's pronounced S-P-E-W. I think we need to change the DA into what the name implies, an army."

"An army?" Ron said chuckling. "Of what, students? 'mione we…"

"Haven't been taking it seriously enough," Harry broke in. Ron looked at Harry in surprise.

"What?" Ron protested. "But Harry, the DA's just a club."

"And we need to make it more than that," Hermione said. "The Ministry of Magic isn't going to fight back against Voldemort!"

"But the Aurors…" Ron protested.

"Are police officers, not soldiers," Hermione said.

"Polees what?" Ron asked.

"Honestly Ronald," Hermione said. "They are officers that keep the peace. They aren't trained to fight a war. If we don't do something no one will."

"Hermione is right," Harry said thoughtfully. "We can't expect the Ministry of Magic to help. We have to be ready to act on our own.

"I've been thinking a lot about our last encounter with the Death Eaters. They weren't ready to have children fight back against them. We would have the advantage with an army of students able to fight better than Aurors." Ron was silent for a moment thinking.

"It would be like having Pawns that could move like Queens." Ron said with understanding in his eyes.

"Well, that's one way to put it," Hermione said. "There really is a lot more to it then just that. But I don't want to say anything till I've done all the research."

"Ron," Harry said suddenly. Ron gave a jump like he had forgotten Harry was there. "I want you to work with Hermione on this." Ron's eyes glowed but Harry was sure Hermione looked uncomfortable. "Ron is a brilliant tactician Hermione. If we are going to be making an army there's no one I would rather have work on strategy than him." Hermione nodded slowly. Harry knew Ron would add extra burden to Hermione's work since Hermione usually liked to do research alone. Ron, after all, wasn't the best study partner in the world.

"We better get on to class or we will be late," Hermione said moving off.

Harry took a deep breath as he followed behind Hermione and Ron, they were talking about study time, Ron protesting about losing his lunch and dinner time, but Harry hardly heard a word they said as he was lost in his own thoughts.

This year they would make an army that could stand against Voldemort and Harry would have vengeance.

---

Friday had been three days away but the time seemed to vanish into the air. Harry's thoughts were lost on the upcoming DA meeting and, though he couldn't really understand why, Ginny.

Every moment they spent together at night doing homework or just talking raced by. Even classes moved unusually fast as Harry's mind danced with images of Ginny smiling at him. Hermione had given up, for the most part, hissing at him to take notes and pay attention.

Harry was sure it couldn't be Friday but as Hermione had proven to him with the Daily Prophet it was. That meant there would be a DA meeting tonight. Harry was starting to feel squeamish all of the sudden and found that he was asking himself if he really wanted to go through with this.

"Look," Hermione said holding up the Daily Prophet so that the others could see. Hermione was indicating a small article on, Harry checked the page number, page 25.

_Accidental Magic Explosion Kills Six Wizards_

_By: Arnold Humfery_

_On the night of September the 4th an accidental spell resulted in the death of six wizards in Nocturn Ally. The cause of the misfired spell is still under investigation but the Ministry assures the Daily Prophet that 'this was just a magical accident.'_

"A bit late?" Harry said looking up from the one paragraph article in tiny font.

"Maybe there was more too it than just an accident," Hermione said thoughtfully as she reread the small article.

"Oy," Ron said, "what are you two on about?" Harry told Ron about the article in the Quibbler.

"ELF?" Ron asked, "The ELF? Wow cool!" Both Harry and Hermione looked surprised, but Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You've heard of them?" Harry asked.

"Of course Harry! They're my favorite wiz-fic!" Ron said his eyes glowing. "I've been reading them for years."

"Wiz-fic?" Harry asked blankly.

"Its sort of a book with animated drawing in it," Ron said.

"A wizard comic book," Hermione said. "But I didn't know there was a comic book based on ELF."

"Well it's kinda old," Ron said his ears began to turn red. "It was Bills collection but he let me have them. I have some in my trunk if you want to read them but Harry, ELF the real ELF!" Ron's face glowed like he had heard the greatest news in the world.

"In this comic book," Hermione asked, Ron raised an eyebrow, "Wiz-fic, what do the characters do?"

"Oh, well they hunt evil wizards using special weapons. This one character, Adam, has like this net thingy he can throw out of his arm and…" Ron began to ramble on about the imaginary characters.

Harry was having a hard time believing that this ELF in the comic book had any chance of fighting against dark wizards.

"Well…" Ron said at last looking around at all the faces. "I guess it's a wiz-fic you have to read to really appreciate."

"Or just look at the pictures," Ginny scoffed. Ron's ears turned pink.

"Oh shut up Ginny," Ron said under his breath. A long enduring argument filled with laughter from Ginny as she described how for years Ron hadn't even realized that there were words that went with the animated characters in the book.

It all finally ended when Ron, who was bright red, suggested that they should get off to class.

Harry kissed Ginny good-bye, which Ron tried to protest but failed when Hermione jabbed him hard in the ribs. Harry, Hermione, Ron and most of the Gryffindor sixth-years headed off to their first Defenses against the Dark Arts class, since practically all of them had missed the actual first class.

The door was open and the room was empty as the students arrived. Assuming this was a sign to take their seats the Gryffindors filed in and filled the class room. To Harry's disgust they had been paired with the Slytherins this years for Defenses against the Dark Arts and they were also taking their seats. Solaris had still not arrived as the clock on the far wall read five past eight. The students sat quietly.

Ten past eight and still no sign of Solaris. Some of the students had begun to whisper.

"If you ask me this guy looks like another stupid fool." Malfoy sneered. "Probably doesn't even know which way to hold his wand."

"Shut it Malfoy," Harry said darkly. The room 'Oooooooo'd. Malfoy's face became a sneer. Malfoy was just about to speak when his books toppled off his desk, he sat back in alarm. A white ghostly head poked through the desk. It was Peeves the Poltergeist. He blew a raspberry at Malfoy and then did a back flip to land at the front of the room.

"Peeves will be your teacher today! We will begin with armpit symphony in E." Peeves said and started to flap his arm making farting noises. The students exchanged uneasy looks with one another. But now that Peeves was floating in the front of the room, flapping his arm, Harry could make out another ghostly shimmer behind him.

"Peeves!" A deep booming voice echoed off the walls. Peeves froze, his arm in mid flap. Behind Peeves the Bloody Baron shimmered into existence. "Get out of this room! NOW!" The baron shouted. Harry had never seen Peeves so shocked. Peeves zoomed out though the wall. The room sat silent as before them a ghost with blood stained robes stood, he eyed the students as if daring any of them to speak.

Hermione, to Harry's shock, put her hand in the air. The Bloody Baron slowly lifted a hand, his ghostly finger coming to rest on Hermione.

"That's a very impressive illusion Professor." Hermione said matter-of-factly. Harry felt his jaw drop, was Hermione crazy?

Harry looked back at the Bloody Baron and realized that parts of him were solid. Now that Harry looked closer he cloud see that the ghost didn't look very ghost like at all. Suddenly the Baron rippled away and Solaris stood in his white cloak a smile, that still didn't seem quite right to Harry, on his face.

"That's very good Miss Granger, 10 points for Gryffindor." Solaris said. The students were starting to whisper. "I have read over your previous years, it seems you are all very well grounded in magical creatures and offensive magics. However you seem to be lacking in the area of defensive magic and magical detection. I arranged a practical demonstration to impress upon you how effective a defensive spell can be to winning a confrontation.

"Today we will be practicing the first in our study of shield spells, the Protego spell." Solaris said. Hermione held up her hand again as some of the other students shot uneasy looks at each other. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Sir, we've already learned the Protego spell." Hermione said in a breathless voice.

"Excellent than I am sure we shall have no problems. If everyone could stand please," Solaris said. The class rose. "Step to the sides of your desk, careful now, stand clear." Solaris' hand flicked out from under his cloak and to Harry's surprise there was a wand in it. "_Peltao Mobalos._" Solaris said and the desk flew across the room to stack neatly against the back wall.

"Alright spread out, lots of room now. Lets see your Protego spells, first row all together and then to the back room." The eight students who stood up front pulled out their wands and each cast Protego. Shimmering shields flickered before them. Solaris nodded. "Next row," Harry moved backwards through the crowed of standing students to the back of the room as the next row stepped up to cast.

"What's he playing at?" Harry whispered to Hermione and Ron. "This is a first-year spell." Hermione shrugged obliviously not knowing what Solaris was doing ether. "And why dose he have a wand now." Hermione shot Harry a fierce look and then her eyes flicked behind him to Malfoy whose head was cocked slightly to the side as if he was trying to listen.

Finally Harry was back up front. Solaris was beaming at the room.

"Well you all certainly seem to be very handy with the Protego spell. Now, let's see it without wands." Solaris said. The students exchanged nervous looks. Malfoy without waiting for a turn to talk burst out in protest.

"Without wands? That's impossible, you can't cast spells without wands. Even a first-year student knows that." Malfoy shook his head and laughed. "I don't think you're a very good teacher."

"Mr. Draco Malfoy isn't it?" Solaris said fixing Malfoy with an unblinking gaze. "I am not entirely sure what your previous teachers let past, but I assure you I will not be tolerate insults or fooling around in this class. I believe 10 points from Slytherin is the appropriate penalty for your disrespectful remark. Perhaps it will enforce the need for you to stay your tongue when you have nothing pleasant to say."

"But Professor," Hermione said raising her hand, "you really can't cast magic without a wand." Harry was shocked that she had spoken up in Malfoy's defense.

"I thought you would know better, Miss Granger." Solaris said his hands coming up without a wand. "_Protego_!" A shimmering shield appeared for a moment before Solaris then it vanished. The students gasped all except for Harry. He had seen Solaris cast magic without a wand before. Harry knew Solaris was a Seraphim and just naturally assumed that like, House Elfs, Seraphim could cast spells without wands.

"Wands do not create magic or give power to those that do not have it. They are a tool, used to focus the magical energy that is inside each of you. You do not need a wand to perform controlled magic. There are spells can be cast without wands, however it is much more difficult." Solaris was smiling at the class. "Today we will practice the shield spell without wands. It will not be easy, but it is one of the more basic spells. Now, hand movement is very important, watch please." Solaris held his palms out flat and his fingers spread. "_Protego_." The shimmering shield flickered into existence for a moment again. "I would like everyone to arrange in a circle and we will begin practice."

There was much shuffling about as people moved to make a lopsided circle, Solaris move around straitening it out. At last the students were arranged in what might be a called a circle but seemed much closer to a square. Harry also noticed that Malfoy had taken up position across the circle from him, he was sneering at Harry.

"Alright now, focus," Solaris said as he stood in the center of the circle turning around and holding out his hands as an example, "see the shield you are trying to make. Imagine it in your hands. Begin."

Many shouts of Protego filled the air and to Harry's surprise he was one of the few in the room that managed anything at all. The shield he created lasted a full ten seconds before vanishing.

"That was very good Mr. Potter 10 points for Gryffindor." Solaris said. "Let's try again, come on everyone!"

Harry had it down pack. The spell was easy, the shield seemed to naturally form in his hands as he thought about it. Ron had had a little trouble at first but after a few tries he also was able to create it without problems.

To Harry surprise Hermione couldn't seem to make a shield at all. Not even a glow appeared in her hands.

"This is impossible," Hermione said finally dropping her hands to her sides. "You cant perform magic without a wand." Solaris had moved off to Neville who seemed to also be having problems.

"No, Mr. Longbottom," Solaris said politely. "Spread your fingers, like this."

"Potter," someone hissed. When the voice spoke the rest of the sound in the room vanished. Slowly, as if the universe had become slower Harry turned his head. Malfoy had his wand drawn pointed at Harry.

Red light few from the end. Harry didn't have time to think, his body just reacted his hands few out in front of him the words not even coming to his lips. The red light impacted with the shimmering shield but did not reflect off, instead the light vanished into the shield and then Malfoy vanished leaving a gap in the circle.

"I still don't see how its supposed to work," Hermione said. Sound snapped back into place. Harry looked at Hermione and then at Ron. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"You didn't see that?" Harry asked.

"Harry you've been doing that all lesson long," Ron said. "And I can do it too."

"No, not the shield," Harry said looking at the spot Malfoy had been only a moment ago. Harry noticed that Solaris was watching him. Solaris turned back to Neville and said something Harry couldn't hear, then he headed over to Harry.

"It looks like your still having some trouble Miss Granger," Solaris said, "hands out." Hermione held out her hands and spread her fingers. "Yes that's very good." Solaris eyes flicked to Harry and for a moment Harry felt like Solaris was trying to read his thoughts.

"Protego!" Hermione said. Between her hands there was a small glow, but a full sized shield did not appear.

"Well you appear to be performing the spell correctly, but it would seem the problem is here." Solaris said tapping his own forehead. "It is not just enough to perform the hand movements, you must also believe that you can do it."

The bell rang signaling the end of class.

"Practice the Protego spell without wands, there will be a test next Tuesday." Solaris shouted as students moved out of the room.

---

"Did you see Malfoy!" Ron said beaming. "Stupid git couldn't even make a shield." Hermione wasn't smiling and Harry didn't answer.

"Well," Ron said uncertainly in the uncomfortable silence. "I just meant that he's prolly so far into the dark arts that he doesn't know how to make a shield spell! Shame he had to leave early I was enjoying the show."

"When exactly did he leave?" Harry asked. Both Ron and Hermione shot him uncertain looks.

"Well, I dono," said Ron thinking back. "I guess just a bit before the end of class. Why you ask?"

"It's, nothing," Harry said. He knew something was wrong. No one, not even Solaris seemed to have been able to see Malfoy's attack against him just like… Harry was unsure what it was just like. Harry knew something like this had happened before but he couldn't recall when or anything about it.

'I feel like I'm going mad,' Harry thought to himself.

'Oh, no,' a hissing voice replied, 'you're already mad, but don't worry we believe you.' Harry came to a dead stop. It hadn't bee a whisper or another thought that had replied it had been a voice, some one else talking in his head.

Hermione and Ron came to a stop a few feet away from him. Hermione looked worried, Ron looked confused.

"Oy, Harry, whats up?" Ron asked. "We got lunch now." Harry was breathing deeply he felt panic in his chest. He looked down at his left hand it was shaking slightly.

"I think… I think I'll skip lunch." Harry said. "I'm not feeling well." Harry said turning and moving towards the nearest staircase.

'Running away?' the voice hissed. This time it had come from some place in front of him. Harry began to walk faster, he could hear Hermione and Ron shouting distantly behind him.

Harry turned a corner and found himself in an empty hallway. He had heard voices before, but nothing like this. These were responding to his thoughts. If it was, as Harry had first thought it might be, a snake, how did it know what he was thinking?

'Harry,' the voice hissed.

"Harry," Harry snapped out of his daze as Hermione shook him on the shoulder. "Are you alright?" Harry looked around the hallway he couldn't remember walking here or even why he had come this way. The only reminder that it hadn't been a dream was that his scar was pulsing with a dull pain.

---

Harry had tried to protest going to lunch but Hermione insisted that what he needed was food. They were almost to the great hall when Harry spotted Ginny waiting for them at the door. She beamed at Harry, her hands were clasped behind her back like she was hiding something.

"I was thinking, that since it's such a nice day, we could have lunch outside," Ginny said her hands still behind her back.

"Great idea!" said Ron. Both Hermione and Ginny shot him poisons looks and Hermione pushed Ron along into the great hall leaving Harry and Ginny alone at the door way.

Ginny smiled at Harry and pulled out what she had been hiding behind her, a large yellow straw picnic basket. Harry couldn't help but smile back his feeling of uneasy slipping away. All his worries about the DA, the dreams and classes faded away as Ginny took his hand and led him out of the castle.

They ended up under the tree down by the lake, the spot that Harry, Ron and Hermione usually sat at.

Ginny had made an extravagant lunch. Turkey sandwiches, grapes, butter bears and strawberry tart for desert. Ginny hadn't brought along a blanket but they were both perfectly happy sitting on the grass together. They had the great rolling hills of the castle grounds around them and the endless blue sky above them.

Harry became aware of just how much Ginny was leaning against him. He put his sandwich down on top of the picnic basket and kissed her in the top of her head. Ginny turned and looked up at him and then moved in for a kiss. Harry didn't pull away. He felt Ginny's arms wrap around him in a tight embrace and Harry did the same.

When at last they broke the kiss both Harry and Ginny were out of breath. Ginny let her robes drop off her arms and Harry felt his eyes widen. Underneath she ha a white blouse, that Harry noticed had been unbuttoned a few buttons too far and a very short black skirt that showed smooth tan legs.

Ginny sat there her chest bouncing up and down with each breath. Even with all his will Harry couldn't look away from the exposed skin. He could see the pink fabric of Ginny's bra. Harry felt a feeling stirring inside him like he had never felt before.

"Harry," Ginny said softly. "If this is too fast for you, tell me." Harry was finally able to look up. He was at a loss for words. How was it that up until right now Harry had never really noticed that Ginny was a girl! He knew she was a girl, but he didn't really understand the full impact of what that meant until right this moment.

Harry had thought of Ginny as a friend, not quite like he thought of Ron or Hermione, but more like Neville, no that was a bad comparison. She was like, well she was Ginny.

Over the summer they had talked on the mirror but Harry had never really considered himself to be in love with Ginny. She had become a closer friend, yes, but still just a friend. Harry had waved it off, after all he thought of Hermione like a sister and to some point during the summer Harry decided that since Ron was his best friend, a brother really, Ginny was, well a sister.

But now that he sat here, with Ginny exposed to him, her feelings full and in the open, Harry's brain wasn't really ready for the reality. He knew she'd had a crush on him, and the time they had spent so far at Hogwarts had been pleasant, it just hadn't occurred to Harry that Ginny thought they were more then friends. It hadn't, until now ever occurred to Harry that he thought the same thing.

Ginny had just been someone that would listen too him, someone he could pour his heart out too without being laughed at or worried about.

Ginny's face turned to worry as Harry thought. She reached down to pull her robe back on but Harry caught her hand and moved in for another kiss. Ginny couldn't react. This kiss was nothing like any of the ones they had shared before.

In this kiss she could feel Harry's passion for her. It wasn't just a soft touching of lips it was a deep passionate kiss. Ginny felt Harry's arms embrace her and pull her body tight against his.

When Harry finally pulled back Ginny's eyes were filled with surprise. Harry looked frightened for a moment and was about to speak but Ginny put a finger on his lips.

"That was wonderful," Ginny said smiling. She wrapped an arm behind Harry's neck and pulled him down as she lay out on her robe, Harry's body press awkwardly on top of hers.

Ginny took on of Harry's hands and pulled it up to her breast. He pulled back slightly as he touched the fabric and soft skin but Ginny held his hand tightly and finally put it to rest on her mound. She still smiled up at Harry's surprised look.

Ginny pushed her head up and kiss Harry on the side of his mouth. Harry's mind forgot where his hand was and his face turned down to kiss Ginny back. Absently his hand began to move on its own.

Harry stopped suddenly as Ginny moaned.

"What?" Harry asked looking afraid. Ginny was breathing hard.

"No," she said longing in her eyes. "It feels good don't stop." Harry nodded and continued unsure what he was doing.

Harry felt the bulged in his pants pressing against Ginny's leg and Harry's brain ground to a halt. Harry let go of Ginny and rolled off her sitting up and breathing hard.

Ginny sat up next to him her blouse still open almost all the way down so that her pink bra was fully exposed against the tan skin of her torso. Ginny rested a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked. In that brief moment when he had become aware of his arousal an image had flashed through his mind. Hermione, laid out on the rock by the lake.

What was he doing? Hermione was like a sister to him and Ginny was like… It was a question Harry couldn't answer anymore. A moment ago he might have found a word but right now he just felt uncomfortable. His feelings and thoughts had all become mixed up. This was happening too fast. Harry didn't know why. There wasn't any logical explanation.

"Gin," Harry said at last. "I just don't think… don't think we're ready for this… that I'm ready for this yet." He looked over at Ginny searching for a reaction. She nodded with understanding and took one of his hands in her own. She smiled at him.

"When you're ready," Ginny said and then leaned forward and kissed him gently on the forehead.

* * *

Authors Notes:

You have completed Chapter 11.exe would you like to read chapter 12?(Y or N):

Y

Writing and proofing Chapter 12 it will be up soon…Loading Please wait…

That was one heck of a chapter. See I said there would be fan service! Alex is sending me hate mail because I didn't make it long enough or graphic enough. So Alex if you're reading this on (which I don't know how you would seeing as I haven't told you it's up here) e-mail me and I will send you the real sex scene. Luckily since you'll never read this I'll never have to write it! maniacal laughter from the author

To all my other readers, thanks for reading! And to everyone who has left a review THANK YOU SO MUCH for reviewing!

And to everyone else… yeah…

I don't see any questions in the reviews so I apparently haven't confused the hell outa anyone. Or I've confused so many people that they don't know where to start.

Please keep the reviews coming they are the bright spot of sunlight in my dark day… or maybe its just night outside when I write… either way your reviews are something I always look forward to reading.

Okay time to end this before I begin to ramble… which I tend to do when I am writing authors notes… Did I mention that my keyboard is laughing at me? I think its conspiring with my mouse…

ANPS:

The next couple of chapters will be delayed a bit I haven't stopped the story they are just taking a bit longer to align then I first thought.


	12. – Reading the Signs

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 12 – Reading the Signs

Harry was considering skiving off Double Divination but Hermione had hissed at the idea.

"But Hermione," Ron said in protest. "You just walked out on the class, how can you tell us we've got to go?"

"You're welcome to drop the class too, Ronald, but until you do its still class and you still have got to go!" Hermione said glaring at him.

Divination lessons had resumed in the tower and Harry wondered what Fernze was doing now that Trelawney was teaching divination again.

Harry barely heard a word that Trelawney said, not that he paid attention anyhow in this class. Harry dully considered why he was even taking divination. After all, Hermione did have a point, Trelawney, for the most part was an old fraud. Except that she had made two accurate predictions about Voldemort.

"Today," Trelawney said dreamily. "We will be starting the art of examining Key Lines, also called as Chi Line.

"Wands out please," Trelawney said. Harry and Ron exchanged startled looks. To Harry's recollection they had never once taken their wands out in Divination class before.

"Now make a motion like this," Trelawney moved her wand in what was a rough approximation of a triangle. "And say the word _Expans Cebrium_!" As Trelawney said the words the tip of her wand glowed gold for a moment and the triangle she had drawn in the air became visible for an instant. She smiled at the class, the expression on her face seemed like she wasn't awake.

"Now, lets all give it a try." Trelawney said. People around the room began to draw the triangle in the air and say the words. A few of them got the golden light at their wand tip but no one managed to illuminate the triangle.

"This is stupid," Harry hissed as he watched Ron make a 'V' in the air.

"Well at least it beats making up predictions," Ron said. "I'm completely out of ideas, I mean we've already used all our good stuff." Harry smiled at Ron. His attitude of late had become more friendly and Harry thought it might be Ginny's doing.

Harry let out a sigh, he might as well give this stupid spell a try. He moved his wand in the best approximation of a triangle he could manage and then spoke the words.

Harry's wand stuck suddenly in the air as though caught by an invisible hand. The tip pulsed gold and the triangle illuminated in front of Harry. First it was only an outline, but quickly it began to fill with bright white light.

Gold lines moved rapidly through the white light. Taking abrupt turns and speeding off in another direction. The lines of gold increased in number and speed. Harry started to panic. He couldn't get his wand free and his hand wouldn't let go.

There were so many gold lines now that the white light had become gold light with white lines moving in it.

"_Nox_," said a excited voice from somewhere. The golden triangle vanished. Harry was standing rigged with his wand still out. Professor Trelawney was standing in front of him, her wand tip touching his, an excited look upon her face.

"That was very good Harry," Trelawney said, her dreamy expression had vanished and her eyes glowed with excitement. "The Key Lines must be very strong today. What did you see?" Harry pulled his wand away. Trelawney was smiling politely at him waiting for an answer.

"Nothing," Harry said honestly. "Just, light." This however didn't seem to disappoint Trelawney in the slightest.

"And in the light?" Trelawney asked excitement now evident on her face. Harry was starting too feel uncomfortable. He had never seen Trelawney like this before. She seemed like she was ready to jump up and down with excitement.

"Gold lines," Harry said not knowing where she was going with this.

"You have seen the line of fate, Harry," Trelawney said unable to hide the excitement in her voice. "Within them is the future! Each line is a different possibility among many. A thread of existence! It takes many years to interpret them correctly," Trelawney turned and hurried quickly to the front of the room and pulled a very large, very old looking book from one of the cabinets behind her desk.

"Your inner eye is very strong, this book will help your power of foresight become more pronounced!" She handed Harry the book. It was so heavy he almost dropped it.

"Uh, thanks?" Harry said looking at Ron who was trying with all his might not to burst out into laughter.

"Now, there are several other spells used to see Key Lines, everyone please turn to page 42 of your Insight into the Future books." Trelawney continued her dreamy air returning to her but her eyes kept flicking towards Harry. Harry put the great old book into his bag, not sure if he would ever bother to look at it.

---

The rest of Divination had been far less exciting and when at last the class was over, Harry was sure that Trelawney truly was nothing more than a great, old, fraud.

Lavander and Pavatie had tried desperately to get Harry's secret for making the Key Line spell work but as he told them, he honestly didn't know. Thinking that he wasn't telling them because he wanted to be on Professor Trelawney's good side, they stormed off.

Ron was still laughing as they reached the great hall for dinner.

"Oh shut up Ron," Harry said as the reached the doors to the great hall. Ron only laughed louder.

Ron and Harry reached their seats on opposite sides at the Gryffindor table. Hermione and Ginny were already waiting for them.

"What's so funny?" Ginny asked Ron as he sat down next to Hermione.

"It's nothing," Harry said sitting next to Ginny and kissing her on the cheek, she glowed red for a moment.

"Oy!" Ron said trying to overcome his laughter with seriousness. "Harry I'm right here, I can see you ya'know!"

"Obviously," said Ginny in a tone that told him very much to mind his own business.

"So," Hermione interrupted, "how did divination go?" Ron beamed at Harry and his face twitched before he broke out in laughter again. Harry ignored him.

"I think you're right Hermione, Trelawney is an old fraud. We started studying something called key lines and…" Harry began.

"And Lavander and Pavatie nearly jumped him after class for muscling in on their territory!" Ron cried between laughter. "Oy, Harry! Your face I don't think I've ever seen you so panicked before!" Ron still overcome with laughter put his head down on the table and continued to laugh uncontrollably into his arms.

"Key lines?" Hermione asked inquisitively. "We studied those in Arithmancy." Harry looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad.

"You what?" Harry said shocked. "But Hermione they're part of divination, why would you study them in an Arithmancy class? Isn't Arithmancy just magic by calculation?"

"Well, yes," Hermione said shrugging, "I guess that's the simplest way to put it. The movements of Key Lines are a mathematical function. But Harry its all speculation, you can't really predict where key lines will go they follow the Magical Chaos Theory."

"The what?" Harry asked blankly.

"Oh, well it's a theory that talks about the way magic works. It says that the same spell cast over and over will not always work exactly the same way." Hermione said. Harry looked blankly down at Ginny who didn't seem to understand what Hermione was talking about either. Hermione sighed. "In the case of key lines Magical Chaos Theory talks about unpredictable movements it explains why key lines move the way they do but it doesn't let you see the future." Hermione smiled and fixed Harry with a knowing stare.

"Did Professor Trelawney show you Key Lines and how to predict their movements?" Hermione asked an air of smugness hovering around her.

"No," Harry said thinking back to class. "She showed us a spell but she couldn't get it to work properly." Hermione shook her head still smiling. "But I did."

Hermione looked up at him wide eyed. She didn't seem shocked or surprised but her face glowed.

"Did you really? And did you see the key lines?" Hermione asked excitedly. If Hermione had been wearing very thick glasses, Harry might have, for a moment, mistaken her for Professor Trelawney.

"Yeah," Harry said uneasily, "but there were so many and they seemed to be random. I don't see what it has to do with seeing the future at all."

"Well, you don't really use Key Lines to see the future, do you? That would mean you could predict what path they were going to take and that's just not possible. Key lines are more to examine paths in the present. Like," Hermione thought for a second, "like the map for example."

"The map?" Harry asked blankly. "What map?"

"The Marauders map," Hermione said, "it most likely uses Key Line interpretation to see where people are in the castle. It really is a very advanced piece of magic." Hermione saw a detached look on Harry's face.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Do, do you think my Dad took Divination too?" Harry asked suddenly. Hermione pursed her lips as if she didn't want to answer.

"It's more likely that he would've taken Arithamancy to perform a charm like that," Hermione said, "but we don't know that it was your father that made the map." Harry nodded dully and set into dinner still feeling uneasy.

---

The DA meeting was still two hours away but Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had all shown up early to prepare. The four of them sat in the chairs that the Room of Requirement had provided them.

"Well Hermione?" Harry asked. It had been her idea that they all come early to talk about the 'new direction' the DA would take on this year. Hermione and Ron had been spending a lot of time in the library doing research.

"First," Hermione said, "from all the letters you got, Harry, it looks like we've lost a fair amount of our members from last year. Ravenclaw seems to have dropped out entirely." Harry was disappointed to hear that, most of the Ravenclaw students had been very promising. "I've also," Hermione looked around uncertainly as if her next words might be dangerous, "also heard that there is a group of Slytherins that are looking to join."

Harry's mouth opened in protest. But Hermione continued before he could get a word out.

"I know what everyone thinks about them, but honestly not all Slytherins are as bad as Malfoy. The houses are just a divider, something to keep the school apart. I'm checking up on them as must as possible but really, except from being in Slytherin they aren't any different from us." Hermione watched Harry expectantly. He nodded a solemn okay that said for her to continue but that he would think about the Slytherins.

"Second because of the security breach last year I think we should take a few extra steps this year. I'm working on something new for us but for the moment we just need to let everyone know we won't be using Gallons anymore."

"Lastly," Hermione said looking at all the faces around her listening intently. "Me and Ron have been doing some research into how wizards fought in the past. I've been studying the fighting techniques wizard in war time use."

"You mean we are taking the DA to war?" Ginny asked. Harry had forgotten that they hadn't yet told Ginny any of this. Harry hadn't even intended for her to come along to this meeting but she had insisted.

"Yes," Harry said. Harry had his chin resting against his hands, "We don't know when or where but we all know its coming. Hermione is right, up until now we haven't been much of an army. We need to start getting ready because the Ministry isn't going to help when the time comes."

"It's actually much worse than any of us think," Hermione said. "There used to be a department in the Ministry of Magic call the Department of Magical War, wizards in the department were called Warlocks. But after World War Two they were disbanded. Warlocks either went into retirement or were moved into the Department of Magical Law."

"What's World War Two?" Ginny asked.

"It was a muggle war," Harry said thinking back to the things he had learned so long ago in muggle school. "It happened in, I think, 1940s."

"Actually it started July 7th, 1937 and lasted until 1945. It involved nearly every country on earth." Hermione said.

"But what's a muggle war have to do with anything?" Ginny asked. "I mean what muggles do against each other really isn't any problem of ours is it?"

"Well, that's what the ministry says, but that's not the truth," Hermione continued. "The truth is that even though wizards like to think our world is totally separate from the muggle world the war was everywhere. Muggles and wizards alike were being killed every day.

"In the end the Ministry had no choice, they had to get involved. So they sent in Warlocks at the same time the Americans joined the war. It was a planed cover so that the muggles already fighting in the war would get suspicious of the new strange groups of people fighting with weapons they had never seen."

"A cover up for magic," Ron said, "Muggles don't believe in magic, it was a brilliant tactical strategy. A weapon that people don't think can exist being used to win!"

"But there was also another factor, the leader of the enemy forces was an insane muggle called Hitler, a sadistic inhuman monster that killed thousands of muggles and wizards alike." Hermione said. There was a look of horror on everyone faces as she continued to tell them all he had done to people during the war. "He became obsessed with magic, looking for artifacts and spells he could use. There are even rumors that he begun to build magical weapons near the end of the war. But as far as any of the historical records go, none of it ever happened. Wizards never joined the war and Hitler never found out about any type of magic.

"I think that wizards have become complacent, that magic has made them feel like they are invulnerable." Hermione continued. "Even when Voldemort appeared they believed that it was nothing to be afraid of. Instead of getting wizards together to fight him they just pretended that he didn't exist or that he wasn't their problem.

"And when at last they could ignore him no longer he was too strong for the current Ministry of Magic to do anything. They had forgotten how to fight."

Everyone sat quietly for a while.

Harry couldn't believe that he had never heard about any of this before.

"But didn't Aurors fight against, Voldemort?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," said Ron, "but most of the time they lost, it was a battle of defending. You don't win when all you do is protect yourself that's the basic rules of combat. A good defense is a good offence."

A knock came at the door and everyone jumped. Hermione looked at her watch.

"Looks like a few people are early," she said getting up and cautiously moving to the door. Both Ron and Harry drew their wands and moved into attacking positions on either side of the door.

Hermione unlocked the dead bolt and carefully clasp the handle pulling the door open slowly. On the other side it wasn't just one student but large group. Hermione waved them in.

Harry counted maybe 40 people in the group of students. Less then last year but not zero. Hermione, Ron and Ginny helped move out cushions for people to sit on well Harry got up on the rectangular stage. He was starting to feel some uneasy now.

Harry looked out at the students and began to look though what they had left, 17 Gryffindors, 3 Ravenclaw and 12 Huflpuff. Thirty two students in all. Harry was hopping there would have been more people, but he would address that later.

At last when everyone was settled in Ron, Hermione and Ginny made their way up to the stage and sat in the chairs provided. Harry took a deep breath.

"Welcome back to the second year of the DA," Harry said looking out across the faces. They were giving him their full attention. "A few things are going to change this year so before we get started I want to tell you about them. If after I tell you you don't want to be part of the DA anymore then the door is open now for you to leave and no one will think less of you."

None of the students moved or even looked around they just sat watching Harry and waiting for him to continue.

"This year the DA will become an army. It is more than likely we will fight against dark wizards. The Ministry of Magic isn't going to help us so its up to us to fight the war. You might be asked this year to put your life on the line of the DA and anyone not willing to fight and die for what they believe is right has no place here." Harry watched the students, again, no reaction, not even from Neville.

"Alright, I will let Ron explain some of the new things that will be happening this year." Harry said and turned to look over at Ron who seemed to have gone pale. Slowly Ron got up and walked on shaky legs to the front of the stage. Harry stepped back and took a seat along the wall.

"This, uh, year we'll be makin groups of people," Ron said in a squeaky voice. "Er, called squads, they will consist of four people and one leader, so, uh, five members per team, squad." Ron was breathing fast now. Harry knew he wasn't good at speaking in front of people.

"There're four different positions in a squad. Healer, Tank and Damage." Ron said uncertainly. Some of the students for the first time looked at each other with unease. Harry counted in his head Ron had only listed three positions. "One Tank, one healer and two damage dealers. A tank is the wizard in the front, his, uh, job is to draw enemy fire and protect the squad. The damage dealers are there to, uh, well deal damage, usally with spells… And the healer is there to heal people."

Someone raised a hand in the audience. Ron seemed unnerved by the question and pointed at the person unable to speak.

"What does the leader of the group do?" The Ravenclaw girl asked.

"Oh, well the leader, er commander of the group leads them." Ron said. "His job is to be able to fill in for any other spot and to keep in contact with command and then issue their orders. I think that's it," Ron said turning and looking at Harry. Harry nodded and looked over at Hermione. Ron made his way back to the seat next to Harry. Ron's face was pale and he was sweating profusely.

"You did fine Ron," Harry said encouragingly. All Ron could do was nod.

Hermione reached the front of the stage.

"I'm going to talk a little bit about the change in security this year." Hermione said holding up a piece of parchment. "This is our new member list, before you leave be sure to sign it. If your names not on it you would be able to find the meeting room next time."

Harry was surprised, Hermione hadn't told him anything about that. She really was a very brilliant witch.

"Next, the Gallons we used last year will no longer work, due to the fact that a few of our members didn't return this year. A new method of contact will be ready for you soon. We will have another meeting next Friday but after that the schedule will be changed frequently so that our movements don't become suspicious since the DA is still a secret club.

"And lastly," Hermione said pulling out another sheet of parchment. "This is the list for anyone here who is interested in becoming a commander of a squad. If you put your name on this we will give you serious consideration for a leadership position." Hermione set both of the parchments down on the front of the stage and looked back at Harry.

Harry stood and walked to the front, everyone's eyes in the room drawn to him again.

"One last thing," Harry said. "Start looking for more members only people you trust and think would honestly be interested in the DA. An army is nothing without members. That's it for tonight, don't forget to sign the sheets before you go, next week we will start our new practice."

---

Everyone but Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny had left. Hermione was looking over the two list of people as Ginny and Ron put cushions back in the pile.

"Looks like almost everyone signed up to be a commander." Hermione said as she handed the list over to Harry. Harry looked over the list, there were a lot of good students here, then Harry spotted Neville. Harry almost dismissed the possibility but he had to admit that Neville had gotten much better, maybe not leader position better but better none the less.

Harry's eyes moved down the list, second to last he spotted Ginny's name. Harry shot her a glance. Harry was starting to feel uneasy again. Why had she put her name on the list?

Hermione was pinning the member list up on the wall.

"'Mione you sure it's a good idea to leave that here?" Ron asked as he tossed the last cushion onto the pile.

"Oh, well it has to stay here for the charm to work," Hermione said. "I put a Fiddlus charm on the paper. Only people who know where it is can find it and since its in this room, you wont be able to find the room if you don't know where the paper is."

"That's pretty clever Hermione," Harry said. She smiled back at him. Out of the corner of his eye Harry was sure he could see Ginny scowling at him.

---

When they reached the Gryffindor common room Ron suggested they head up and get the ELF wiz-fics. But Ginny said that Harry and her would wait for them in the common room.

There weren't many other people up. Just a few students doing homework, mostly fifth years that had O.W.L.S coming and were getting increased home work. Harry wondered for a moment when Ginny had found time to do her homework.

Harry and Ginny sat down on the floor at one of the small coffee tables well they waited for Ron and Hermione to return.

"I want to know," Ginny said suddenly from across the table. Harry looked at her.

"Know what?" Harry asked. Ginny's face was nothing like Harry had ever seen before. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips tight together. He had the uneasy feeling that she was trying to look into his head.

"What's going on between you and… and Hermione." Ginny said. Harry felt a sudden shock. 'Between him and Hermione?' What was Ginny talking about.

"I don't know what you mean?" Harry said.

"I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you," Ginny said, she seemed like she was on the edge of tears. "If, if you and her are…"

"What!" Harry said suddenly panicked. "No, I mean we are just friends Gin." Harry reached out a hand and took one of Ginny's. She pulled away. Harry felt suddenly hurt. What was Ginny on about? Why do girls have to make so little sense?

Ginny suddenly stood from the table and with hurt eyes rushed off up the girls stairs just as Ron and Hermione reemerged each carrying a small pile of books.

"Oy," Ron said as he saw Ginny running off with tears in her eyes. "Where's she going?" Ron fixed Harry with a glare, "what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Harry said angrily. He stood and stormed past Ron and Hermione, neither followed him up stairs.

---

Saturday hadn't been a pleasant day. Harry hadn't seen Ginny all day long and even though he knew he'd done nothing wrong he still felt uneasy. Ron was in a fowl mood and hadn't said more than one or two words all day. Hermione seemed distant and every time Harry had tried to strike up a conversation with her she jumped before answering.

At long last dinner rolled around. Ron and Hermione both headed off but Harry didn't follow.

"Harry," Hermione said in an uneasy voice, "Aren't you coming to dinner?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Harry said from the couch where he'd been sitting most of the day. Hermione gave an uneasy look at Ron, who shrugged and turned to leave. Hermione waited a little longer but couldn't find words to say. When Harry didn't say anything else Hermione left as well.

Harry felt sick. Not ill but not well either. Something was wrong, well many things were wrong, but right now one thing on his mind was tormenting him more than anything else. Or rather the thing tormenting him was in his pocket.

Harry put his hand over the cold stone that rested in his pocket. The heartbeat very faint.

There was giggling off behind Harry. He had been dimly aware of it before but more so now because so many people had gone off to dinner. A group of fifth-year girls were sitting and talking in one of the corners of the common room.

Harry couldn't take it anymore, he had been sitting here all day waiting for Ginny to come down so he could apologize for whatever the fuck it'd been that he had done. Harry got up and made his way towards the group of fifth year girls. A Harry approached them one spotted him and whispered to the others, they all became very quite.

"Excuse me," Harry asked. They were all eyeing Harry with what he could only conclude must me dislike. "Have any of you seen Ginny around?" The girls looked at each other and Harry felt very uncomfortable.

"She's up stairs in her room." One of the girls final said. "She's been up there all day long. I don't think she wants to talk to _you_ right now." Harry felt a burst of rage, this girl, she was a mudblood Harry could smell it, dared to speak to him like that? He felt a sudden urge to slap her down and put her in her place.

Harry took a calming breath willing for strength. He knew that was wrong and at the same time it felt perfectly natural. The girls looked awkwardly between each other as Harry closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Finally the feeling subsided.

"Thanks," Harry said roughly and left to head to his room.

---

Harry paced back and forth. He had to see Ginny, had to talk to her, but he wouldn't go back down to those girls and ask them to get her for him. There had to be a way to get into the girls' dorm.

It wasn't fair, after all that the Girls could come into the boys' rooms whenever they wanted. Harry sat roughly on his bed.

Harry could become a phoenix and teleport there, but he had never been there before and so far he had only managed to move in a strait line to some place he had seen before. He didn't even know where Ginny's room was, no, it would be far too risky to even attempt.

If only there was a secret passage or something. A thought crossed Harry's mind. 'Maybe there is a secret passage!'

Digging though his trunk, which had been delivered to Hogwarts, Harry found a very old piece of parchment. He pulled his wand out and tapped the map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry said. Letters began to appear and the names of the Marauders appeared on the front of the map. Foot prints began to walk around with name tags on them. Harry unfolded the parchment looking for Gryffindor tower. At last he found the entrance but as he opened it to the girls' dorm he found that the page was blank. Harry stared at it for a moment. The boys' dorm was drawn out in detail but the girls' dorm just didn't seem to be on the map.

Harry held it not able to believe what he was seeing. Of all the people, Harry thought the Marauders would have been able to get into the girls' dorms. Harry was about to close the map when he noticed tinny font at the bottom of the stairs where the girls' dorms should have started. Harry leaned closer.

"_Looking for a way over or looking to be a peep_?" the text read.

'It couldn't be a password could it?' Harry thought. Harry looked at the words for a long time and then another small word appeared beneath it.

"_Well?_" Harry was so surprised he almost dropped the map. It wasn't a password it was a question.

"Yes," Harry said stupidly, "err I am looking for a way to visit Ginny." The words faded into the parchment and lines begun to draw themselves all over the blank space. The girls' dorms appeared. He saw some names he didn't recognize but at last found Ginny's name on the fifth-floor.

A dotted line started to draw itself from where the 'Harry Potter' tag was sitting. Harry watched as it snaked out into the dormitory hall way and over to the washroom down the hall and into one of the shower stalls, the stall at the end.

Harry folded the map, pushed it into the pocket of his robe, hurried out of his room and down the hallway pushing past a group Gryffindors that lived in the room across from Harry.

"Sorry," Harry shouted over his shoulder as he almost knocked the washroom door off its hinges.

"He must really have to go!" one of the Gryffindors said before the door swung shut cutting off the laughter. Harry looked at the line of shower stalls. He made his was to the one at the end.

A sign was hung haphazardly on it that read in scrawled out letters, "out of order." Harry had never been down this far along the row. Usually there was never anyone else taking a shower when he did.

Harry tried to push the door open but it didn't move. He pushed harder but it still remained immobile, Harry was just about to pull the map out when a squeaky voice spoke up.

"Can't you read, I'm out of order." Harry took a step back. The sign had sprouted a human like face, the red letters stretched across it. "Shove off now, there are plenty of other working stalls."

"Please," Harry said, "I have to use this one."

"Oh," said the sign in mild surprise. "Fosset doesn't work in this one. It's scheduled to be repaired at some point I think. But I am just a sign after all and not often kept up to date on plans of the administration."

Harry was starting to get frustrated, this stupid sign was blocking his path, there had to be a password. Harry was just about to pull out the map when the washroom door opened and three Gryffindor boys came in laughing. They spotted Harry and one of them waved at him jubilantly.

"Oy Harry," He said, it was Adam Pallet he had been at the brawl between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. "That ones out of order."

"Thanks," Harry said waving back. Adam looked at the others and shrugged then vanished inside one of the stalls further up the row.

"Look," Harry said in a whisper. "Please just let me use this one." The other Gryffindors were talking and laughing loudly again about something in Harry didn't catch.

"I'm sorry but as a sign, it's my responsibility to warn people of things that are out of order," the sign said. Harry had a thought.

"But not to stop people?" Harry asked.

"Oh heavens no, I'm a warning sign. I'd be breaking the rules if I tried to stop people." The sign said. "That's a stop signs job you know."

"Then why can't I open this door?" Harry asked.

"Well it's locked of course," the sign said. "Incase people don't bother to read me, though I dare say I am printed in bright red letters that are fairly hard to miss." Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the lock.

"_Allohamora_!" Harry said and the door clicked open.

"I did tell you this stall is out of order?" the sign said as Harry pushed the door in and then closed it again behind him. He was standing in a shower stall that looked exactly the same as the others except that one wall was made of stone instead of a wood.

Harry pulled out the Marauders map and looked at where he was. Tiny words were appearing above his head.

"_Hot 3, cold 2._" Harry read. What a strange password. Harry looked at the fossets and then back at the map. He saw a stick figure of himself turning something. Harry looked up again. Three turns? Harry took hold of the fosset marked hot. It seemed to be in the closed position, it wouldn't turn left. Harry turned it to the right and found it spun quite easily all the way around. No water came out. Harry tried to turn the round fosset knob again but it wouldn't go any further to the right. Harry turned it back to the close position and then back to the full open position.

Harry could hear the Gryffindors laughing and talking dimly some place in the background. His heart seemed to be making a lot of nose. Harry took hold of the cold fosset and turned it one revolution and then a back. There was a click from someplace in the wall. The round fossets began to spin around as if they had no open or closed limits. The shower head began to shake. And for a moment Harry thought he would be drenched in water. But instead the stone wall to his left pushed back reveling a narrow passage. Harry slid though the opening.

The passageway was very narrow and very dark. Harry held out his wand and pointed it down the passageway.

"_Lumos!_" Harry said. His wand tip glowed. Harry couldn't see the end of the dark hall. He took a few steps forward and the secret door closed behind him cutting off any outside light. Harry didn't see a way to open it again from this side so he had no choice but to proceed forward.

Harry scooted sideways along the wall for a long time. It was a very uncomfortable way to travel. At last Harry reached a small circular room only just wider than the narrow passage. A set of doorways lead out in all directions, Harry counted six identical tunnels in total, arrange in a circle. Harry checked the map. The other passages seemed to lead to wash rooms on different floors. He wanted the second one on his left, which looked like it would take him to the fifth-floor of the girls' dorms, where Ginny was. Harry noticed that there didn't seem to be a way to get to any of the dorms, at least from here, below the fifth floor. Holding his wand out Harry moved down the new passageway which seemed to slope down as he walked.

At last Harry reached the end to find a large stone wall blocking his path. It was a dead end.

Harry looked down at the map. It showed a leaver but Harry didn't see one. He searched around for it but at last came up empty.

"There just isn't one here!" Harry said at last to the map as though it could hear and understand him. The map however did not, nor did it display any new information. If this had been a secret passage it had been removed at both ends which meant that there was no way out from here.

Harry was starting to panic now. He was in a very small crawl space and there didn't seem to be any way out. Desperate he looked at the map again. It still showed a leaver where there wasn't one.

Harry put out his hand and franticly begun to feel the wall. It was cold solid stone, even some of the very powerful attack spells he knew wouldn't be able to damage it. Then his hand touched something odd. Something protruding from the wall.

Harry ran his hand along it, it was long and smooth and felt like it was made of wood but there was nothing there. Harry wrapped his hand around it and pushed down. It felt like he was lifting some king of weight on the end.

Suddenly there was a low grinding noise and the wall blocking his path swung slowly away into the wall.

Harry stepped out quickly glad to finally be free of the treacherous passage. It was something he hopped he'd never have to do again. There was a door in front of him and Harry was just about to open it when he heard voices, female voices, talking and laughing. Harry froze. He couldn't be. Harry looked down at the map and found that he was in the last stall of the girls wash room on the fifth-floor, it mirrored the boys except it that it was turned around.

How was Harry going to make it from here to Ginny's room? Harry looked down at the map and found his answer. He saw name tags of people on the floor. For the most part rooms were empty as it was dinner after all. Two of the girls, Ella Darlin and Lois Collions were in the shower stalls nearest to the bathroom door. They seemed to be talking and laughing and didn't appear like they would be leaving anytime soon.

One girl was out in the hall, Alex Lincaster, she was heading towards the stairs that led down to the common room. Two other girls were in their rooms but they were both past Ginny's.

Harry knew he had to chance it. With the map in hand he had the advantage. He could do this. Ginny was only a short distance from the wash room, six doors away on the left side.

Cautiously Harry pulled the stall door open. There was a sign on it, hung properly with very tidy writing that read, "out of order." Harry closed the door with a click and moved slowly along the row of stalls. The girls were still talking. Harry was almost to the end when the sound of fossets being turned reached his ears and the sound of water stopped.

Harry begun to panic, seeing no place else to go he pulled open the stall next to him and darted in. The moment after he was inside he heard the lock on the stall next to his click open and the sound of a hinges squeaking. Harry held his breath as he listened.

"I can't believe our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher," One of the girls was saying in a dreamy voice. "He is sooooo cute and his smile is sooooo incredible. He almost reminds me of Professor Lockheart." Both girls let out a sigh and giggles.

'Was this all girls talked about in their free time?' Harry finally heard the door to the wash room close he checked the map. The girls were walking away from Ginny's room towards one of the rooms closer to the stairs. It was clear, now or never.

Harry opened the stall door and hurried out. He checked the map again. The girls had gone into their room. The hall was clear. Harry opened the door and looked out. He checked the map once more and darted down the hall trying to walk as lightly as possible so as not to make any noise on the wood floors.

Finally he reached Ginny's door his heart racing Harry didn't even consider knocking as he took hold of the handle. He pulled his hand back quickly. The knob was hot.

"Oh, don't bother knocking," a sarcastic female voice that seemed to be coming from the handle said. "Just barge on in and…" the voice stopped as Harry knelt down to get a better view of this talking door handle. Harry realized his mistake far too late as the door handle looked at him with wide eyes.

"BOY IN THE DORMITORY, BOY IN THE DORMITORY!" the handle shouted. The other handles began to shout it too. Harry was suddenly panicked. The whole hall was shouting. Without thinking Harry used the only escape plan he could think of.

The hallway grew larger, the wand and map merged into Harry's outstretched wings, with a burst of flame Talon teleported the short few feet into Ginny's room.

---

Ginny was crying. She had been crying all day long. 'Stupid, stupid stupid!' She thought to herself. She had done it twice. How could Harry ever forgive her? She hadn't meant to say those things they had just sort of come out.

"The look in his eyes, he hates me!" Ginny sobbed into her pillow.

"BOY IN THE DORMITORY, BOY IN THE DORMITORY!" Ginny sat up as the shouts echoed through her room. Her face was stained with tears. Suddenly there was a burst of flame and the red-gold phoenix with black tipped feathers that she had first seen down in the common room appeared on her floor.

"Harry!" She cried in surprise and delight. The phoenix looked panicked. Harry had come all the way to the girls' dorm, risking life and limb, to see her. Ginny knew that at any moment now Professor McGonagall would be swooping in to find out who had snuck into the girls dormitory.

"Quickly Harry!" Ginny said running over to him and kneeling down. "We have to get out of here." Harry gave her, what Ginny could only assume, was a nod. She held out her arm and Harry hopped up onto it, his talons grabbing firmly but not painfully. Ginny moved over to the window.

There was more shouting outside now.

"THIS ROOM, THE BOY WAS AT THIS ROOM!" The door shouted. Ginny flung the window open and Harry, still holding tight to her arm flapped his wings and pulled them out the opening as a loud knocking echoed from the door.

Ginny felt like she was flying. Even though Harry was holding her by the forearm she felt as light as feather. It wasn't awkward or painful it was perfect. She had felt this feeling many times in her dreams, but it hadn't been a phoenix carrying her then it had always been Harry, just like it had been on the day he had rescued her from the Chamber of Secrets.

They were clear of the castle now and the shouting had all but dissipated into the night. Ginny wasn't sure where they were going. The ground was dark below them. The moon, not quite full, didn't provide enough light to make out anything but the glow against the lake.

Harry began to descend down towards the ground. They landed by the edge of the lake near a large rock that had partly fallen into the water.

Ginny's feet touched the ground and Harry sat, still on her arm, light as a feather. The heartstone in her pocket was warm and the beat was fast.

Harry hopped from her arm and glided down over to the slab of rock sitting on the lake. Ginny hopped out to it following Harry.

The black water of the lake glowed softly in the light of the moon. Ginny's eyes were starting to adjust now and she could see the shimmering water stretching out for miles and the dark mountains in the distance. Harry took wing again and landed on a smaller portion of rock a few meters out. It was too small for Ginny to stand on but Harry sat perfectly upon it.

Ginny watched as the feathers began to glow with red light that fanned out into the water making it glow like a circle of fire. Then Harry began to sing.

His song moved the wind and the lake rolled gently to the shore as his enchanting rhythms filled the air. Ginny's knees felt week and she sat unable to stand and listen to the beautiful song. She cried with happiness as the Phoenix swayed back and forth in time with the melody, its glow becoming brighter and brighter. The stone in Ginny's pocket became warmer, the heartbeat faster.

Suddenly there was a burst of flame as Harry opened his wings. The fire danced in a circle for a moment as it expanded outwards floating away and vanishing like a smoke ring a moment latter. The song softened and ended.

Ginny could barely breath it was the most beautiful song she had ever heard. The phoenix gave a flap of its wings and landed before her.

The red vanished and the bird enlarged several times. Harry was on one knee in front of Ginny his head down.

"I'm sorr…" Harry started but was cut off as Ginny wrapped her arms around him and kissed him all over his face. Finally she embraced him in a tight hug, her head resting on his shoulder.

"So am I Harry," She whispered in his ear. "I know we both have a lot to learn about each other, but together I am sure we can muddle though it." She pulled back to look into his eyes, they were hidden behind the reflection of her face in his glasses.

Ginny took hold of them and pulled the glasses off Harry's face then leaned forward and kissed him gently on the mouth. She pulled back after a second searching his eyes. Harry smiled and leaned back into her for another, longer, much more passionate kiss.

---

Time seemed to rush by as Harry lay next to Ginny on the cold stone. Harry had pulled his robe off and covered himself and Ginny with it. Her body was warm next to his as they lay awake watching the stars drift through the sky.

They had spent the rest of the night holding hands and just being close to each other well pointing out silly shapes in the stars.

Harry was surprised when the stars begun to vanish into the blue sky. Finally when the sun crested the mountains behind them Harry suggested that they should head back to the castle for breakfast.

Ginny smiled and they held hands all the way back to the gates.

* * *

Authors Notes:

And thus goes chapter 12. I hope you are enjoying reading the story as much as I am writing it. More coming soon.

In answer to the question about Solaris, he is based off many different characters and not just any one specific person, as are many of the characters I create for my stories. I try and avoid modeling any character on any one person I know or characters I have encountered in other stories. It's not always the case, but I do my best.

I still see a lot of hate for HP/GW pairing that has been in the story so far, I'll probably get a lot more from this chapter, however I would like to take this time to remind my readers that I did not say that was the final pairing for this story nor did I say it wouldn't be. You just have to read on and see what happens.

I will say one thing for certain, there will not be a DM/GW pairing, ever. In fact I will assure you that Draco will never ever in any of my stories become Harry's friend.


	13. – Mind Games

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

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Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

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Chapter 13 – Mind Games

Sunday was much more pleasant then the day before. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione spent most of the sun filled day outside just sitting and talking about things. It wasn't until during dinner in the great hall that Harry found anything to remind him of the next week of classes.

"Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said from behind Harry. Harry felt shock he hadn't noticed her aproch he had been in such deep conversation with Ginny. Professor McGonagall handed Ron an envelope and then handed one to Neville, before moving off down the table. Harry looked at his friends, Ron shrugged obviously having an clue what it could be. Harry watched as McGonagall continued to hand out envelops to people along the Gryffindor table.

"Oy," Ron said disappointedly as he read the letter from the envelop.

"What's it say," Harry asked.

"Detention… starts on Monday and goes through to Wednesday, that's not too bad. Looks like McGonagall will be heading it." Ron said. Ron looked over at Harry and then at Hermione. "Why didn't either of you get detention?"

"I did," Harry said, "but I haven't gotten a time yet." Harry looked over at Hermione as did Ron.

"What," Hermione said looking at both of them. "I didn't hit anyone in the fight."

"But you were there!" Ron pressed eyeing Hermione like he knew she was hiding something.

"Yes, but I didn't fight anyone." Hermione said again.

"Mr. Potter," A cold voice interrupted, it was Snape. He was standing behind Hermione. He handed a letter over her head to Harry and then, to Harry's shock, Snape handed a letter to Hermione. With a sneer Snape turned and moved off, back to the head table.

Harry opened the envelope and pulled out the paper inside.

_Your detention will begin at 6 o'clock on Monday. You will attend detention every night with Professor Snape in room 303, until Monday of next week._

_Signed Professor Severus Snape_

Harry let out an unpleasant sigh. Ron looked at him.

"Looks like I didn't get off after all mate," Harry said crushing the paper and stuffing it into the pocket of his robe. Harry looked back up at Hermione who was wide eyed reading her letter as well.

"Bad luck Harry, you almost made it out of that one. How bout you 'mione?" Ron asked. Hermione folded the letter quickly and put it back into the envelope.

"It's nothing," Hermione said breathlessly.

"What?" Ron asked a laugh in his voice. "'mione, you can't say its nothing. Everyone else that got letters like that has detention. You've got detention too haven't you?" Ron said leaning closer and trying to grab the letter from her.

Hermione slapped Ron's hand as he reached for it.

"Ouch," Ron cried pulling back and rubbing his hand. Hermione pushed the envelop into her pocket. "What'ca do that for!"

"I don't," Hermione said, "it's nothing." Harry was starting to feel angry now. It was obvious Hermione had gotten detention. She had gotten a letter just like everyone else. Why wouldn't she just admit it?

"But Hermione," Harry said, "you got a letter, just like me, Ron and Neville. What else could it be but detention?" Hermione seemed started when Harry had started speaking to her. She had been doing this all day long and it was starting to annoy Harry. It was almost like she had become afraid to talk to him.

"It's not," Hermione said her eyes wide and her voice pleading.

"I got it!" Ron shouted as he held up the envelope he had taken from Hermione's pocket well she'd been talking. Her eyes went wide as Ron pulled the letter out. Hermione reached across him trying to grab it.

"HA!" Ron said triumphantly as he read the letter and Hermione struggled against his back to get it. "It does say you have detention, with Snape!" Hermione stopped trying to get the letter. She balled her fist and punched Ron hard in the arm.

"Ouch!" Ron cried. Hermione's face looked like it was on the edge of tears. She stood yanked the paper from Ron's hands and stormed from the great hall.

---

Ron was still rubbing his arm as he, Harry and Ginny headed up towards the dormitories.

"I don't think you should've done that," Harry said to Ron.

"She was lying to us wasn't she?" Ron said angrily. "I mean she really does have detention, with Snape, of all people." Harry remained silent. He had detention with Snape too but he hadn't mentioned it.

"Mr. Potter a word please," came Professor McGonagall's voice from behind them. Harry stopped and turned to see her coming up the hallway towards them. Harry felt uneasy, what now, was she going to give him more detention?

"My office please, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said holding out a hand. "You're welcome to come along Mr. and Miss Weasley." McGonagall added as she eyed the two red headed children on either side of Harry.

Professor McGonagall led the way to her office and proceeded to the front of the room. Harry had an uneasy feeling. He had no idea what this could be about, why had they needed to go to her office to talk. If it was a private matter why had she invited Ron and Ginny to come along?

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk and the three students stood in front of her.

"I have just received word from the Ministry of Magic that your ban on Quidditch has been removed Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said. Harry was caught off guard. Of all the things he had been expecting this had not been one of them. "I am therefore happy to return your broom to you," Professor McGonagall pulled out Harry's Firebolt from behind her desk and handed it to him. "As well as to inform you that your place on the house team will be reinstated. Since you are now the senior member on the team it is also fitting that this year you lead as team caption."

Harry felt his jaw drop he couldn't believe what he was hearing!

"You will need to find some new seekers as by my count your team doesn't have any at the moment." Professor McGonagall said. "I would recommend that hold tryouts for new members next weekend." Professor McGonagall leaned forward. "And Potter, I know you can do this. So don't let me down."

Harry nodded dully and managed a 'thanks' before leaving the room.

When they were well on their way back to Gryffindor tower Ron, who had been smiling since they left Professors McGonagall's office finally burst out.

"WOW! Harry," Ron said slyly. "Welcome back to the team mate! Now we'll be unstoppable! We have a real chance of beating everyone this year. I can't believe that the Ministry of Magic really removed the ban and…" Ron continued to talk about all the great ideas he had and plays he was considering. Harry tuned him out, not because what Ron had to say wasn't important but because Ron had said something that bothered Harry.

Why had the Ministry of Magic removed the lifetime ban? Fudge was obviously not found of Harry. Maybe it hadn't been up to Fudge? That was likely but at the same time Harry felt Fudge would have tried to make it his business. That Fudge would've done anything to stop Harry from having fun. Something didn't feel right.

"So, Harry," Ron said a grin in his voice. Harry was pulled away from his thoughts. "What'da you reckon?"

"Sounds like a great plan Ron," Harry said having no idea what Ron was talking about. Ron beamed.

"Oy, Harry this year is going to be great the Slyhterins won't know what hit um! Unless it's a bludger and then most likely they won't remember!" Ron exclaimed as they reached the fat lady.

---

The walls of the cave were dark. The floor was black like a starless sky. The only thing Harry could see clearly was the illuminated door at the end. Large metal snakes curved around it. They were alive, hissing and slithering all over the door.

Harry drew his wand. Something didn't feel right. He wasn't compelled to approach the door. The air felt cold. Harry was fully aware of his surrounding. This was unlike any dream he'd ever had before. The images were too real.

There was a click and the door began to swing open. Harry readied his wand but there was nothing on the other side, at least nothing he could see. The room beyond was hidden in blackness.

"_Lumos_," Harry whispered in a hoarse voice. His wand tip illuminated with a bright glow. A horrible screeching reached his ears. The black floor was moving away from him like mist pushed aside by footsteps. Stone floor was appearing in a circle as the blackness backed away from the light. The screeching halted as the blackness on the floor moved out of the circle of light produced by Harry's wand.

Even though the darkness beyond the door had no shape Harry could see it undulated. He knew, somehow, that it was alive, that it was watching him.

"Hey put out that light!" Said a gruff voice from Harry's left, "can't you tell we're trying to sleep?" Harry glanced over at the wall where the voice had come from, there was a moving painting hung upon the wall and in the painting was himself and Hermione.

It was the painting from the island of Avalon. Harry's face in the painting looked worn and tired. Hermione looked afraid and in the background the third-floor corridor had changed. The walls were no longer made of carved stone. The braziers that had lit the corridor had vanished. It had become the cave that led to the Chamber of Secrets! The black shadow that stood next to the door was more pronounced, larger, more menacing and it now had bright glowing red eyes. The door to the Chamber of Secrets in the picture was still closed.

Harry looked back at the real door to the Chamber of Secrets. It was fully open and next to it was a shadowy shape, its eyes glowing red. Harry pointed his wand at the shadow. The shadow did not move away or cover its eyes and no horrible screeching came from it. The shadowy shape stood watching Harry, the glowing red eyes, unblinking. Then it took a step towards him.

Hands began to sprout from the sides of the shadow. Its body that had been just a long black column became pronounced. It had legs and feet.

A glowing red mouth split open across its newly forming head. It began to speak in words that sounded like mumbles. Harry couldn't understand any of them. Harry pointed his wand at the shadow monster.

"_Lumos Maxima_!" Harry shouted. The light flared brighter for a moment and the shadow monster looked away. The light dimmed back to the regular glow. The monster looked back at Harry, its eyes narrow and its mouth contorted with rage.

The shadow monster roared and the walls shook. Its fingers curled in its shaking hands as it roared again. Great black skeletal wings erupted from its back and curved outwards in the air like claws. The shadow monster took another step towards Harry.

There was no room for retreat. Behind Harry was the collapsed stone that blocked his path. The blackness on the floor crept forward as the monster advanced. Harry still had his wand outstretched and light still glowed at the end but it seemed to have no effect. Harry had no idea how to fight a shadow monster. The only thing that seemed to work against it was a light spell but he only knew the Lumos spell and a way to make it more effective for a short time.

Harry waved his wand again and shouted "_Lumos Maxima_". The light burned bright again and the darkness stopped for a moment. Then the light dimmed and the shadows advanced. Harry was searching his brain trying to think of anything that would help him. How did one fight off darkness?

"_Risen Sol_!" Harry shouted thinking back to the first menacing shadows he had encountered. A bright light erupted from Harry skin like he was made from the sun and a bubble of light created a wall against the shadows. Harry felt warm.

The shadow monster reached the edge of the bubble, the blackness was every where now, pressing down on the bubble. Harry could no longer see the walls or the door at the end of the cave. All Harry could see were the red eyes as they searched the bubble of light. A fist and smashed against the light bubble. There was a horrible screaming as the monster reeled back in pain, its shadow hand evaporating away. For an instant the walls around Harry became visible again. The monster took a step back.

This was what Harry had been waiting for. Harry took a step forward and the shadows on the floor began to evaporate a horrible screeching erupted inside Harry's head. The shadow monster began taking quick steps back to avoid the light.

Harry moved forward as quickly as he could. Each step felt like he was pushing against something very heavy and the screeching was growing louder. At last there was no more room for retreat. The monster was forced back through the doorway. Harry took hold of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and closed the heavy metal door.

---

Hermione hadn't come to breakfast the following morning. Ron was looking a bit put out, he seemed to missing his usually enthusiasm for breakfast. Harry wasn't feeling much better himself.

The news of being able to play Quidditch again had made him happy last night but he wasn't sure about being team captain. Sure Harry had run the DA but a Quidditch team? He didn't know anything about leading a Quidditch team. He also didn't think he would have enough time to manage a team and lead the DA. Harry wished Ron had gotten the job since he seemed much more suited for it.

But that wasn't what was troubling Harry the most. The dream he'd had last night was still in his head. It hadn't faded like the dreams normally did. He could still see clearly, the door, to the Chamber of Secrets closed at the end of the hall. It didn't matter how much he tried to forget, the dream still remained prominent in his mind.

Breakfast was short and what little conversation came was very forced. Even Ginny seemed subdued from her usual cheerfulness.

When Ron and Harry reached potions they found that Hermione was already in the room. She was sitting at one of the table in the back, instead of up front where she normally sat between Ron and Harry. As they entered she avoided looking at them pretending instead to be studying some notes, Harry noticed however that they were upside-down.

Ron's mood seemed to become worse and he took his normal seat near the front, not looking back at Hermione or even over at Harry. Harry decided Hermione looked like she wanted to be alone, so he also took his normal seat as well.

Potions was a grueling lesson that had left Harry with little time to think about any of the other problems he was having. Snape had been so angry that only four people in the class had successfully managed to brew the Contridicurous Potion that he'd assigned an even more difficult and complex concoction, the-almost-but-not-quite-impossible potion, was what Harry had written it down as in his notes. By the end of the lesson only Malfoy and Hermione had managed to create the potion to any satisfactory level. Harry had come close but Snape had vanished his potion complaining that it had the incorrect odder to it. Harry was fairly sure that his potion had been odorless, just as the instructions had called for it to be.

The entire class had been assigned two parchment lengths on the correct procedure to brew the almost-but-probably-impossible-because-snape-is-a-slimy-git potion.

Harry was glad to be free of potions class but Herbology hadn't gone much better. Harry's mind kept wondering and he had managed to get stung not once but four times by the Black Throned Thistle plants they had been trimming. His right hand still had a burning sensation in it. They had been handling baby Black Throned Thistle pants, if they had been full grown Harry might be dead. Harry was thankful when at last dinner came around.

Hermione, again, hadn't sat with them during dinner. Harry spotted her further down the table eating alone. He felt an urge to move down a sit with her but Ginny took his arm and shook her head.

"She really wants to be alone right now," Ginny said. Harry had no clue how she could know this but decided she was probably right. After all it seemed like every girl knew everything about everyone else.

It was about halfway through dinner when Hermione appeared on the other side of the table. For a second Harry had thought that she might have come to sit with them but she hadn't.

"We have detention now," Hermione said to Harry. Harry looked at the clock on the wall of the great hall it was 10 minutes till 6.

"No we don't," said Ron, "detention doesn't start till 8." Hermione ignored him like she hadn't heard a word he had said.

Harry was confused. How had Hermione known that Harry had detention with Snape too. He hadn't told her. Ginny gave him a push. He was still sitting there stupidly with Hermione watching him.

"Right," Harry said getting up. Ginny caught his arm and gave him a kiss on the check before he could get away. She looked into his eyes and Harry could feel the heartstone in his pocket jump. Harry smiled back at her and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. Ron dropped his fork and his mouth hang open. He couldn't find any words.

As Harry departed he could hear Ginny hissing at Ron as he began to complain.

---

Harry and Hermione walked down the empty hallways silently. Harry didn't know if she was angry at him or not. Hermione turned and headed up one of the staircases.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked as he followed. Hermione shot him a startled look as though only just realizing that he was there.

"Well, room 303, that's on the third floor." Hermione said. Harry nodded. Now that he thought about it he couldn't ever recall going to room 303. Snape usually held his detention in the dungeons.

"'minoe," Harry asked. She looked at him uncertainly. "How did you know I had detention with Snape, because I don't remember telling anyone."

"Well," Hermione began, "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about it and I really don't have detention." Harry was shocked, she was still denying it even after they were both walking up to detention. Harry couldn't believe it. "I'm not really sure I should say anything. Professor Snape will be able to explain."

Harry was about to start in on Hermione but he suddenly realized where they were. Harry looked around feeling uneasy.

"'minoe, this isn't the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side, is it?" Harry said, already realizing that it was. They moved down the corridor. Harry had walked this path many times in his dreams. Somehow the corridor seemed smaller now that he was actually here.

Standing at the end was Snape, leaning against a door next to the one at the end of the corridor. Harry was starting to feel uneasy. This was too familiar, to real. Harry didn't know if this was a dream or reality. He felt that any moment Snape would spot them and send them away. But that moment never came. Snape merely looked disdainfully down at them as they reached the end of the corridor. The room that Snape was standing next to was room 303 and Harry suddenly realized something was out of place.

In his dreams this corridor had only one door. The locked door at the end but now that he was here, for real, he could see that there were many doors that lined the walls.

"What are we doing here?" Harry asked. He suddenly felt panic as he realized something. How had Snape known about Harry's dreams of this place. The only other person that had any knowledge of them was, Hermione. Harry looked at her his eyes wide.

"You told Snape about my dreams?" Harry said angrily. It was all falling into place. That's why Hermione was here, because she had told Snape about Harry's dreams! Just like when she had told McGonagall about his Firebolt. How much more had she told Snape? Harry didn't seem to recognize Hermione, it was like he had never seen her before, this was something he never would have expected her to do to him.

"No, Mr. Potter," Snape hissed, "it is your own fault by not guarding your thoughts more carefully during your Occulmancy lessons." Harry wasn't sure but that didn't seem right. Harry couldn't recall having remembered this place during his Occulmancy lessons.

"We are here to help reinforce your control over your mental defenses." Snape said as he pulled his wand out as he moved towards the door at the end of the corridor. "When working with dreams it is often required to actually go to the place of weakness to help your mind make the comparison between real and imaginary." Snape pulled the door at the end of the hall open. Harry had expected to see blackness beyond it, but instead there was just a small room with a trapdoor in the floor. Fluffy was not sitting on top of it.

"Now, Potter, we will journey into your mind." Snape said lifting his wand. "And you will remember that beyond this door is just a room."

"We?" Harry asked. Harry looked over at Hermione as she pointed her wand at him too. Harry had no idea what was going on.

"_Exon Legilimens_!" Snape and Hermione shouted together.

The walls started to blur. The door to room 303 faded back and forth between existing and vanishing. The corridor became larger and then smaller. Harry blinked hopping to force the uncertain world from his eyes.

Both Hermione and Snape were standing at the door now. In the corner against the wall was a headless, armless version of what had once been Snape, a pool of blood gleaming around it. Harry couldn't recall what had happened, how Snape had gotten like that. The real Snape and Hermione stood at the locked door.

"There is nothing," Snape said as he pulled the door open. Harry felt a rush of fear and drew his wand. Light flared at the wands tip as the Lumos spell cast without Harry even saying a word. Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, his body just reacted. Behind the door there was just an empty room. Harry kept his wand up.

"See, Harry," Hermione said trying to sound cheerful. "There isn't anything there." But even as she said it Harry could feel the room becoming cold. Slowly Harry turned around to look down the empty corridor behind him. It was coming.

The stones in the walls of the corridor began to move twisting and growing into odd shaped rocks. The empty corridor began to close itself off and a large round metal door grew from the newly formed wall. The door sprang open and blackness rushed out into the corridor.

---

Hermione watched as the tendril arms of the shadows enveloped Harry. He lashed out against the black squid-like monster but his attempts produced no results.

"_Lumos Excendos!" _Snape shouted. The light hit the mass of shadows that was holding Harry. A horrible screeching noise erupted in Hermione's head but the shadows did not move away, they did not release Harry. Snape lowered his wand.

Hermione had no idea what to do now. She and Snape had talked about this encounter for over a week. Talked about how to removed the 'door' from Harry's dreams so that it wouldn't be a problem anymore. Hermione had spent whatever time she hadn't used for the DA studying Legilimancy and Genesis Ex Mentis.

This should have worked. With the door into Harry's mind sealed the connection to Voldemort should have been broken. But there was now another door and it had opened all the way. Hermione didn't know how this could even be possible.

The mass of shadow writhed and undulated. Then on the front, at least the side that was facing them, great red slit like eyes opened.

"Granger," Snape said hoarsely. "Go and get the Headmaster." Snape leveled his wand at the corpulent shadow monster. "Quickly!" Snape hissed when Hermione hadn't moved.

Hermione waved her wand making the exit symbol to break the legilimancy spell but nothing happened. Snape looked at her.

"What are you waiting for! Go, now!"

"It isn't working!" Hermione said. She was starting to feel panicked now. She knew that the exit spell had been correct, why hadn't it worked?

Snape moved his wand performing the exit spell but he too remained. Snape tried again.

A roar erupted from the mass of blackness. Arms had sprouted out and black skeletal wings hung from the monsters back. Hermione gasped. On its forehead was a glowing red lighting shaped scar.

"We have to move," Snape said looking around. Finally he spotted what he was looking for behind them. He pointed his wand at a large stone in the wall and it shimmered away leaving a space just big enough to crawl though. "Go Granger."

Hermione nodded and got to her knees in front of the crawl way. She felt like she was crawling through a tunnel inside a rock slide. Gradually the walls began to change into red and white stripped fabric.

The crawl tunnel ended and Hermione found herself on the Quidditch pitch. They had crawled out from under one of the stands. Snape rose to his full height and looked around.

The sky was overcast promising rain at any point. Quidditch players flew around in circles above them and the crowed was a mass of faceless people cheering. Hermione gasped. The Quidditch players were all dressed in long black robes, they looked dementors.

"This is very serious," Snape said turning to Hermione, "we are trapped in Potters mind. There are only two ways we can get free. Someone must either break the connection from the outside or we must force Potter to expel us from his mind."

Hermione nodded, trying to recall all she had read. Not in any of the books could she recall anything about someone becoming trapped in another persons mind well using Legilimancy. Why couldn't they get out?

"How do we get Harry to force us out," Hermione asked as she watched the ghostly dance of the Quidditch players.

"We need to find a memory that is so private it will cause a reflexive action to fight against us. Occulmancy works best as a reflex, the mind is trained to fight against memories we don't want to remember. If we find a memory that Potter doesn't want us to see the connection with us should be broken."

"And what about Harry?" Hermione asked uncertainly, "what about that black monster? And the open door? I thought the connection was broken when I locked the door!" Snape thought for a moment.

"It should have been, the appearance of a second door into Potters mind isn't possible. But we don't have time to speculate. Our first priority is to get free." Snape began to walk out towards the center of the Quidditch field, Hermione followed.

In the grass at the center of the field was a handle. Snape clasped it and pulled. The sod came free making a circler door in the middle of the Quidditch field, almost like a man hole. Snape tossed the door aside and looked into the room below.

Below there was a red white stripped canvas floor and the wall was packed dirt. Sprouting out from the dirt were long wooden beams and a couple of benches. It looked very odd and for a moment Hermione wasn't sure what she was looking at then she realize that it was the interior of some kind of tent. But the whole thing had been put on its side.

Snape dropped though the hole in the Quidditch field and to Hermione's amazement his feet landed against the dirt wall so that he was walking down the wall.

"Quickly," Snape hissed. Hermione nodded and lowered a foot into the hole. It felt like a long drop below her. Closing her eyes Hermione pushed herself the rest of the way through the hole and found herself sitting on the dirt floor inside the tent.

The hole they had come through behind them looked up into the sky of the Quidditch field and the an occasional black robed player whooshed by overhead.

The tent was empty. Hermione didn't recognize this place. Harry obviously must have been in this tent at some point. A roar of cheers erupted from outside the tent. Both Hermione and Snape pointed their wands at the noise. Snape lowered his wand and looked around the tent.

Snape moved towards the exit on the far side and pulled the canvas open. There was a large field out in front of the tent. And standing at the far end was a large green dragon but instead of its head the dragon had the face of Victor Krum.

Hermione felt her eyes go wide. She still sent letter to Victor and this was the last place she had expected to see his face. Hermione realize where they were. The first task of the Tri-Wizard tournament. Snape was looking around at the audience.

"No," he said disappointedly, "this isn't what we are looking for." Snape looked at Hermione, "you are his friend, what is a memory Potter wouldn't want us to see, wouldn't want anyone to see?"

Hermione thought, she couldn't think of anything Harry wouldn't want her to see. Harry didn't talk about trams in his past and though Hermione was very adept at determining what Harry was thinking on the spot she only really knew what he had told her. She thought back through all the experiences at Hogwarts. There was the DA, but she didn't want to show Snape that. The many times they had snuck out of the dorms after hours? Well, Snape already knew they did that and Hermione didn't think those would be powerful enough memories for Harry to push them out of his mind.

"I can't think of any," Hermione said, "at least nothing that Harry would be afraid to show us." Snape's lip curled as he looked around.

"We could be lost in here forever," Snape hissed, "but of course if we stay connected much longer we won't have to worry about being lost. Our self consciousness will cease to exist and we will become just another problem in Potters mind."

Hermione felt a wave of panic. That she had read about, how could she have forgotten? One of the dangers from prolonged Legilimancy was that the ego border between the person invading and the person being invaded would break down. The two minds would become one, or more accurately the invader would be absorbed. Usually this wasn't a problem since Legilimancy rarely went beyond surface thoughts or lasted more than a few minutes, but Hermione and Snape had penetrated so deep into Harry's mind that they had become trapped and unable to leave.

"This is all fahsod, we need to get beyond these illusions." Snape said pointing his wand at the dragon. "_Vex Malos,_" Snape shouted. Purple light crack in the air as a huge cone rushed towards the dragon. The image roared as the light hit it but a moment later the dragon dissolved into the air. Snape pointed his wand at the stands and did the same thing.

As each part began to dissolve a torn hole was left behind as though the world around was made of some type of fabric. Beyond each hole a different scene played out. One, Hermione noted, was a huge Snape looming over Harry. Another was the archway in the ministry of magic, Sirius fell through it then reappeared and fell through it again.

Snape was still blasting away creating holes into other memories. Hermione suddenly felt a sharp pain in her arm. She grabbed it. Her whole arm had become translucent.

Snape stopped blasting for a moment and looked down at his feet. Hermione noticed that one of his legs had the same ghostly translucency. Snape was breathing hard.

All of these memories were dark, but not a single one seemed to be one Harry didn't want them to see.

Hermione looked desperately around at the many memories and realize just how little she really knew about Harry. Suddenly she spotted something that didn't belong. Harry was sitting on a rock at the edge of the lake. It was a tiny memory in a small hole.

Hermione remembered Ginny telling her about the night she and Harry had spent out by the lake but Ginny hadn't elaborated on what exactly had taken place. Hermione felt hurt that Harry had taken Ginny to her thinking place but she had grown used to watching Harry from afar and what Harry did was his own business. At least that's what Hermione told herself.

Hermione's brain began to work on its own and before she really knew what she was doing she was heading towards the memory. Hermione looked through the hole that had been torn in one of the people cheering in the crowed. Hermione could see it was night on the other side and two people were on the rock that sat in the lake.

Hermione felt angry. How could Harry do this to her, why had he have taken Ginny there of all places. Hermione wasn't sure what compelled her, the need to escape from this nightmarish reality or the need to expose Harry.

Hermione reached through and pulled the fabric making the hole larger. The person continued to cheer on either side of the tare as though they hadn't just been torn in half.

Hermione stepped out onto the other side. She looked back to see if Snape had followed her but he was still blasting away.

Hermione crept along the shoreline. The rock was only a few feet away. Harry was on his side propped up on his arm looking down at the person beside him, Hermione moved closer. She was almost close enough to touch Harry when his head jerked around to look at her his eyes wide with surprise.

It wasn't Ginny laying on the rock. Hermione felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at the naked form.

"GET OUT GET OUT!" Harry shouted, Hermione took an uneasy step back and looked at Harry with a loss for words. "GET OUT!" The world around Hermione sped away leaving her in an empty darkness.

---

Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She was laying on her side against cold stone. Everything for a moment was blurry. She blinked as she pushed herself up from the stone floor.

In the middle of the hallway Harry was laying face down his arms spread out. Snape was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, he was rubbing his eyes. Snape looked up and found Hermione.

"Get him to the hospital wing, Granger," Snape said as he pushed against the wall to get to his feet. "I need to find the Headmaster." Hermione nodded. She wasn't sure if she could stand or not but she would have to try.

Snape walked over and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. Snape nodded and then moved off quickly down the corridor.

Hermione pointed her wand at Harry and murmured a levitation spell. Harry began to float his arms hanging limply down against the floor, he was still uncurious. Hermione flicked her wand and Harry rolled to his back and his arms crossed against his chest.

Using her wand to guide his progress Hermione moved as quickly as was possible towards the hospital wing.

Her brain was fuzzy. She was having trouble concentrating on where she was going, her feet led the way and she found herself at the hospital wing door. She didn't remember the walk there.

Without knocking she pushed the door open. Madam Pomfrey was at one of the beds treating a group of Gryffindor first-years. She turned to see who had come in, he eyes went wide and she rushed over to Harry.

"This way," Madam Pomfrey said as she motioned to one of the empty beds. She hovered over Harry her wand out, her face looked pale, "on this bed please." Hermione set Harry down on the bed Madam Pomfrey had indicated. When Hermione let the levitation spell drop she felt drained. Hermione slumped down into one of the chairs.

The hospital wing doors opened again and Dumbledore, along with Snape, entered. They hurried over to the bed.

Dumbledore looked at the first-year students across the way, they were whispering to each other.

"Poppy are their injuries very serious?" Dumbledore asked politely. His voice was calm and his face, though strained, did not have any hint of panic upon it.

"No," Madam Pomfrey said, "one of them thought it would be funny to make a pastry explode during dinner." Pomfrey hurried over to them and moved them out of the hospital ward with only some minor protests.

Dumbledore didn't say anything to Hermione as he pulled his own wand out and moved it over Harry. The tip glowed blue and then green and then red.

"It would seem what we have feared the most has come true," Dumbledore said his wand vanishing into his robes. "Severus, I will need the Ethereal Shield from my office. We should also get Professors McGonagall and Solaris to assist us." Snape pursed his lip.

"Headmaster," Snape said cautiously. "Perhaps it would be wiser to use the Ethereal Connector instead. The shield will only protect him from…" Dumbledore held up a hand.

"From what you have told me it would be far too dangers for us to attempt to enter Harry's mind again." Dumbledore said. "Harry must fight this battle on his own, we will assist him all we can from here." Dumbledore's tone had a finality to it. He turned to Hermione. "It would be best for you to return to your dormitory and not to mention this to any of your fellow students."

"But I can help!" Hermione cried, the tiredness faded and she felt a rush of energy.

"There is nothing more you can do for him tonight," Dumbledore said calmly. Hermione was about to protest again but Snape spoke.

"The headmaster is correct Miss Granger," Snape said, there was something in Snapes eye that Hermione had never seen before, she wasn't sure what it was. "Come now and let the Headmaster work. Snape led Hermione out the hospital wing door

As closed it behind them Snape pulled something from his pocket.

"I agree with you Miss Granger," Snape said coldly as though admitting this was something he despised. Hermione was in shock. "And I must follow the headmasters orders," Snape looked around as he opened his hand, in it was a small white square on a silver chain. Carved in the square was a large circle that had three triangles forming one large triangle in its center.

"Do you know what this is," Snape said holding the pendant out to her. Hermione nodded. She had never seen a real one just pictures in books because this item was illegal to even own. "Use it then Miss Granger, my hands are tied but your mind is still free." Snape turned and hurried off as Hermione looked down at the charm in her hands.

She had never seen this side of Snape before. But she didn't have time to figure out where this change had come from. She would have to move quickly if she was going to save Harry.

* * *

Authors Notes:

I feel at this time it should be mentioned that you have completed chapter 13 of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil! Congratulations! Give yourself a pat on the back!

I would like to do the same, but I can't reach my back because I am typing!

Questions still at a minimum, I dono if that's a good or a bad thing. So my brain is going to create the image of good.

I really don't have anything else to add to these AN's so I guess I will let you get back to what ever it was you were doing.

Chapter 14 is coming soon so keep watching, keep reviewing and for the love of Innoruuk keep reading!


	14. – Out of Body, Out of Mind

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 14 – Out of Body, Out of Mind

The fat lady swung closed behind Hermione, she was still looking at the white charm in her hand. She knew it was made from bone, human bone. Hermione couldn't believe what she was looking at. She couldn't believe that Snape had given her such a thing.

Hermione was so distracted with the charm in her hand that she didn't notice all the people that had packed the common room.

"Hermione," Ginny said. Hermione jumped only now see how many people were around her. Hermione closed her hand quickly to hide the charm from view. Ginny's face was pink and she looked distressed. "A group of first-years say that Harry is in the hospital wing and that you brought him in. Oooh what's wrong Hermione? Is Harry okay?" The whole of Gryffindor tower was down in the common room and all their eyes seemed to be fixed on Hermione.

"Not now," Hermione said as she began to push her way past everyone. Angry voices rose up around her as she squeezed between the mob of students to the girls' stairs. She didn't have time for this, she had to hurry. Hermione knew that at any moment Dumbledore would be putting up an Ethereal Shield around Harry and when that happened they would have no chance to help him.

Hermione was at the bottom of the stairs when a hand caught her wrist. It was Ron, his face looked pained.

"Look," Ron said uneasily. Hermione already knew what this was about, Ron was an open book, projecting his thoughts. "I'm sorry about, you know, the letter."

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Hermione said roughly she tried to pull her hand away but Ron didn't let go.

"I really didn't mean it," Ron pressed on. He hadn't gotten the message. Hermione sighed, sometimes Ron was thicker than Goyle.

"Ronald," Hermione said kindly. Ron looked up at her in surprise. "Not now," Hermione hissed and she pulled her hand free and marched up the stairs.

Hermione reached the sixth floor quickly and rushed down the hall to her room. No one else was inside. That was good because the magical charm she was about to use was illegal. Well, not always. Specially trained Aurors could use it some times, in extreme cases, but their actions were closely monitored.

Hermione knew the task she was about to perform wasn't just illegal it was incredibly dangers, especially with the teachers doing what they were about to do. Being caught was the least of her problems. If she couldn't help Harry quickly enough there was the very real possibility that she would die.

Hermione put the charm around her neck. She had to do this quickly there wasn't any more time to waste. Hermione took the charm in her hand preparing to activate it.

A loud knock came at the door and Hermione jumped. Charm still in her hand she moved to the door, her heart was pounding against her ribs. It couldn't be Ministry of Magic officials here to arrest her, no that was impossible. It was most likely just more students coming to see if she was okay or to ask about Harry.

It would be best to send them away, if she didn't answer they might think that something was wrong and fetch a teacher.

Hermione opened the door and was shocked to see Ginny and Ron standing outside.

"Ginny!" Hermione cried stepping backwards. Not waiting to be invited in Ginny marched into the room pulling Ron behind her.

"Hermione," Ginny said her face was still red. "What happened to Harry? You can tell us, there's no one else around now!"

"Ginny you can let go, you're crushing my wrist," Ron complained. Ginny shot him a daggered look and Ron went silent. There wasn't time. Hermione knew that if she tried to send them away they would just be back or wouldn't leave at all.

Hermione moved around them, closed and locked the door. She released the chamr she had been crushing in her hand and Ginny's eyes went wide.

"Hermione that isn't a…" Ginny began, Hermione nodded quickly before Ginny could finish.

"I don't have time to explain, we have to help Harry." Hermione put the chain around Ron and Ginny's necks.

"Oy!" Ron cried as Ginny pulled him roughly down against the floor. "What is this thing?" Hermione ignored him. This was a bad idea. Ginny was smart, she knew what the charm was, which meant she most likely knew what was about to happen. But Ron, though his heart would be in the right place, Hermione had serious doubts that it was a good idea to bring him along. But she didn't have a choice, they didn't have anymore time.

With her left thumb Hermione pressed the triangle in the center of the charm. It became warm and started to glow with a bright white light. The white glow became larger and larger until at last it enveloped the three of them.

Hermione felt light as a feather, the same feeling she'd had on Avalon with the flight charms. But this was no flight charm. Hermione looked down, below them, leaning against each other was herself, Ron and Ginny all of them had their eyes closed. Hermione was still holding the charm in her left hand, her thumb pressed against the triangle.

"What… what's going on!" Ron cried in alarm. "Hermione are we dead!" Ron was panicked.

"No," Hermione said. "We're ethereal. Mental projections of our mind except that we aren't connected to our bodies anymore. In a way we are like ghost. We don't have much time, any moment Dumbledore will be putting up an ethereal shield around Harry. Once that happens we wouldn't be able to enter Harry's mind to help him fight off Voldemort." Ginny nodded, Ron looked pale or at least the ethereal equivalent. Ethereal projections had no color, not white or black but simply no color.

Hermione turned in the air and moved quickly through one of the walls emerging outside of the Gryffindor tower. Ron and Ginny followed after. Ginny looked determined, Hermione knew she would do what ever it took to help Harry. It was the same feeling Hermione felt.

Ron looked like he would much rather have stayed in bed and not gotten dragged along.

Hermione spotted the roof of the hospital wing and soared down threw it. Dumbledore was placing a third silver disk on Harry's chest. Professors Snape and McGonagall stood on either side their wands outstretched. Solaris stood at the foot of the bed his wings open and curved around all of them like he was some kind of hospital curtain.

Hermione looked back at Ginny and Ron who were floating a few feet behind her. Hermione took a deep breath and plunged downward crashing full speed into Harry's head.

---

Hermione felt solid again. Her left thumb was still pressed tightly against her forefinger like she was pinching something.

Ron and Ginny appeared a moment latter.

"That was insane!" Ron cried. "That was totally and completely crazy!"

"What do we do now?" Ginny asked, she had drawn her wand. Hermione didn't know exactly what to do now.

"We should find Harry, this is his mind, he should be able to tell us where to go," Hermione said uncertainly.

"Oh yeah that'll be easy," said Ron sacristy as he motioned around. They were in one of the massive stairways of Hogwarts but not all the stairs went upwards, some went sideways, others upside down. Some stairs even curved off into infinity and then looped around back on themselves. "Where do you think we should start looking?"

Ron had a point, now that they where here Hermione didn't have a clue where to start looking.

"We need to find the dream that Harry is having." Ginny said. "Memories don't contain the person remembering them because they see the memory through their own eyes. But if we find a dream, Harry should be in it." Hermione nodded that made sense with what she knew about Legilimancy.

"Hang on," Ron said looking between the two girls, "Ginny what do you know about this stuff? I mean Hermione knows everything but..." Ginny whirled on her brother.

"Excuse me?" Ginny cried angrily. "Are you implying that I don't know anything?" If the situation wasn't so desperate Hermione might have found this funny but she did not. The last thing they needed at the moment was to be arguing among themselves. "For you information I have studied dreamology and psycho-cognitive imagery as well as mental intrusion and Legilimancy."

Hermione was surprised, Ginny had studied all that? Those were the major fields for wizards wanting to become magic psychologist. Even Hermione hadn't looked extensively into all of them. Hermione knew that Ginny was smarter than most people, like Harry and Ron, gave her credit for, but Hermione never knew she had studied so much on those particular subjects. It didn't really seem like the sort of thing Ginny would be interested in.

"There," Ginny said pointing to a passageway that seemed to have no stairs leading to it. "That's the way we need to go."

"But how do you know, it looks like all the rest!" Ron said looking around.

"It would take to long to explain," Ginny said looking at Hermione for support. Hermione took a deep breath. Ron was right it did look like all the other passages out of this maze of stairs. Was Ginny just guessing?

Ginny's eyes looked pained as she waited for Hermione to say something.

"Alright," Hermione said at last. "Let's go!" Ron looked as though he still had his doubts but he didn't say anything. They reached he end of their stairway. Here it took an abrupt 90 degree turn and plummeted down into the mass of crisscrossing stairs below.

"How do we get there," asked Ron. "I can't see any path that…" without warning Ginny leapt from the end of the stairs. There was a long moment where Ginny floated in the air and both Ron and Hermione held their breath as they waited for her to reach the pinnacle of the jump and then drop suddenly downwards.

But the moment never came, Ginny soared the 40 feet to the ledge and landed softly upon it. Ron looked flabbergasted. Hermione let her breath out uneasily.

"It's a leap of faith," Ginny said from the other side. "You just have to believe you can make it and you will." Ron screwed up his face, took a few steps back and then, running full tilt, launched himself across. He made it but only just. His body crashed into the ledge his arms holding on as his body dangled over the parapet below. Ginny took hold of her brother and helped pull him up as he scrambled to get onto the ledge.

Hermione watched uneasily. It was an impossible jump. She knew it was impossible even after watching two people make it.

"Come on Hermione," Ginny shouted, "just believe it is possible and you will be able to make it." Hermione took another deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this, to help Harry. Hermione took a few steps back. The gap between the stairs and the ledge seemed to become bigger. Hermione ran as fast as she could and leapt from the edge. The moment her feet left the stairs she knew that she wouldn't make it.

The world began to tumble as she fell spinning out of control. Stairs rushed past her. Hermione felt a scream escape her throat. She toppled around in the air having just enough time to see another set of stairs rushing up at her, she covered her face as she slammed into them.

---

Ginny watched horror struck as Hermione plummeted into the stairs below. She hit them with impossible speed and bounced rolling limply down the rest of the stairs before falling off them and vanishing into the never ending drop below.

"Ginny," Ron said breathless and panicked. He was breathing fast his voice was uneven.

Ginny didn't know. It was just a dream but in ethereal form many things in the mind became real. Ginny knew that it was very possible that she had just watched Hermione die falling more then two hundred feet to her death. She also knew that Hermione might be perfectly fine, but it didn't seem to matter how many times Ginny told herself that. The image of Hermione falling and crashing into the stairs below was too horrific to simply force from her thoughts.

"We have to keep moving," Ginny croaked. "Harry still needs our help. Hermione will be fine, it's just a dream." Ron nodded uneasily. Ginny didn't mention the other problem that now existed. Without Hermione, they had no way to leave Harry's mind.

---

Ron and Ginny continued to wander through Harry's mind. There were strange images in pictures on the walls. Some were paintings from the castle that had no faces. Others were windows into parts of memories.

Ginny tried to think back to all the things she had learned about the human mind. Mind diving, as it was most commonly referred too, was illegal except in extreme instances so actual information about it was very hard to find.

From what she knew the fact that they could see so much in Harry's mind meant that he was losing control of it. That Harry could no longer safeguard his thoughts from others or even himself.

Without some kind of control the memories would start mixing with each other. Thoughts, images and personalities would become intermingled. Everything that made Harry who he was would become a giant mess and Harry would be lost inside it.

The hallway ended at a highly polished dark wooden door. It hand a shinning silver handle. The door looked out of place in comparison to what was going on around them.

A scream erupted from one of the paintings and the wall it had been hanging on collapsed a troll meandered out into the hallway. It had the face of a man with turban wrapped round its head.

Ron looked at Ginny in shock. The troll looked at them then stupidly it turned and began to wonder off down the hallway.

"Blimey," Ron said watching the troll as it walked away. "I don't remember Quirral looking like that." Ginny didn't bother to ask who Quirral was, instead she turned back to the door. This door was out of place. Ginny couldn't explain it, she just knew this door didn't belong.

Ginny took hold of the handle and pushed the door open.

On the other side was a sitting room. There was a desk at one end and two very large couches in the center, separated by a dark wood coffee table. Books lined the walls on tall book cases and lavish paintings hung every now and then between them.

There was no one in the room and there didn't seem to be another door out. Ginny took a step into the room and felt sudden unbearable pain. She let out a scream and pulled back. When she had tried to step into the room it had felt like her skin had been set on fire.

"What!" Ron cried taking Ginny's shoulders, "What's wrong?" The pain was fading. It was a pain she had first felt a long time ago, a pain she was no stranger to. Ginny felt cold. This pain was one of the reasons she had begun the study of dreams and mind, so that she would never have to feel it again in her nightmares.

"This isn't part of Harry's mind," Ginny said stepping away from the room. She quickly closed the door. The feeling of cold was subsiding.

"What do you mean, course it part of his mind," Ron said confused. "What else could it be?"

"Tom's mind," Ginny said.

"Tom?" Ron asked stupidly, "you mean, him!" Ginny was disappointed with her brother, he was still afraid to say Voldemort's name.

"Yes," Ginny said stepping turning away from the door, she had her arms wrapped around her. Ginny looked back down the hallway. "That was part of Voldemort's mind we almost stepped into." Why was there a door into Voldemort's mind here in Harry? Ginny didn't have time to find a reason. How long had they been here, thirty minutes an hour? Time didn't have a physical meaning in a dream but Ginny knew that if they stayed from their bodies too long they would not be able to return.

That was one of the reasons becoming ethereal was so dangerous. Without the mind the body cannot survive. If they didn't help Harry soon they would be ethereal forever.

But where should they go now. All the signs had pointed to this mental passage. For a moment Ginny felt a panic. Maybe she had read them wrong and this was the passage to Tom's mind. Had her thoughts betrayed her? Had she really wanted to come see Tom again instead of helping Harry?

It was a dark thought. A thought she hadn't had to fight against for almost two years. There was still a part of her, deep down, that had feeling for Tom. It disgusted her. She had tried to learn to destroy it through her studies but had not been successful. The only option she'd had was to repress the dark impulse.

But the more she thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. Her mind had betrayed her in the moment when Harry needed her help the most.

Except that she had seen Harry go down this passage when they started. That meant that this was the way he subconsusly wanted them to go.

"This should be where Harry is," Ginny said at last. "I don't understand why he isn't here! I don't know where we should go now." Ginny felt herself starting to cry. She had failed Hermione and let her die. She had failed Harry, was he to have the same fate? And what about her and Ron, they were trapped here forever. The dark spot in her mind felt like it was growing and instead of being able to focus the only thing she could see were images of Tom.

"Ginny, look at this!" Ron exclaimed. He was standing by the hole in the wall the troll had made. Ginny whipped her eye and moved over to look through the hole. She forced the thoughts away.

Across the green field of grass was a tall house. Ginny recognized it, it was their house, the Burrow.

"This is really, really, weird!" Ron said as he put his hand through the hole in the stone wall.

This was it, they were getting closer!

"Come on!" Ginny said grabbing Ron by the arm. She pulled him along behind her as she dashed through the hole in the wall. The Burrow was different then Ginny remembered it. The house appeared more rounded and the larger than it actually was.

Ginny pushed the front door open. There was no one inside. The inside of the house looked similar but it was not the same. Random objects like chairs and tea kettles seemed larger. It had not been bright outside but the windows glowed with warm yellow light.

"I don't remember our house looking like this," Ron said as he looked around.

"This is the way Harry remembers it," Ginny said. She spotted the clock on the wall that told where everyone was. All of the hands were scattered about its face but instead of the words that normal appeared on the clock there were strange squiggly lines. Ginny also noticed that there were two extra hands on the clock. On one of the hands was Hermione's face and on the other Harry's. Both extra hands pointed to the top of clock. Even though the words weren't there Ginny knew the clock well enough to know what the hands should be pointing at, Mortal Peril.

Ginny took a deep breath. It was a memory, not even a dream, it didn't mean anything, did it? Ginny had studied dreams for almost four years and still meanings of things in her own dreams escaped her.

A cry came from up stairs. Ginny looked at Ron, he'd already pulled his wand out. Quickly the two of them moved to the stairs. Ron took the lead moving two steps at a time The stairs were far longer than they should be continuing far past where the house should have ended. Finally the reached a doorway at the top of the stairs.

"This shouldn't be here," Ron said. He was right this staircase should open up on to a landing. Harry had to be through this door. Ginny held her wand at the ready and nodded at her older brother. Ron's face tightened, he took the door handle and pushed it open.

On the other side was a hallway. Portraits hung on the white wall. To the left was a door that looked like it led outside and to the right was a kitchen. Ron moved out into the hallway his wand level ready to attack. Ginny moved out after him and looked around. They had come out of a small door, a cupboard door, underneath a staircase. Ginny had never seen this house before.

Sobbing was coming from the direction of the kitchen and shouting from the direction of the sobbing. Ron moved towards the sounds, Ginny followed close on his heels. They emerged into a kitchen that was connected with a living room.

A fat man was standing in the center of the living room he was shouting at a boy on the floor. A women had her face in her hands, she was sitting on one of the couches, sobbing. Ginny rushed forward her wand outstretched and Ron at her side.

"That's enough!" Ginny said angrily. The fat man stopped shouting. The boy on the floor looked up at the two new comers. He was small, lank and had unruly black hair. His clothing was very baggy and one of the lenses of his glasses had been broken. There was blood coming down from one of his nostrils. His face was a mixture of panic and fear.

"You leave Harry alone!" Ginny shouted at the back of the fat man. Ginny's wand was shaking with rage now. Slowly the fat man turned around to face Ginny and Ron. Ginny gasped as she saw his face. It was a face she had seen many times before. A face she had seen only a few moments ago. It was the face that haunted her all her first year and almost every night since. It was the face of Tom Riddle.

Ginny felt her panic in her chest.

"I see you have finally made it, Gin," Tom said in a polite voice. He took a step towards Ginny and like he was stepping out of some sticky substance the body of Tom Riddle separated from the Fat man. The 16 year-old Tom Riddle stood facing Ginny and Ron well the fat man moved in on Harry and lifted him from the floor in two massive hands.

"I was hopping I would see you again, Gin," Tom said stepping closer raising a long white finger he touched the side of her face. Ginny shivered at his touch but she couldn't pull away. It was the cold feeling that embraced her nightmares and even though it frightened her, the dark part of her mind seemed to take satisfaction in Tom's touch. "It has been a longtime since I've seen you, Gin, and you've only grown more beautiful."

Ginny was too panicked to move. Her brain had stopped working all the horrible moments from her first-year that she had tried to repress were flooding back. She could remember in vivid detail the things she and Tom had done. There was a smile that was trying to force its way onto her mouth.

Tom's hand was suddenly slapped away. Tom's head jerked to the side in surprise and anger.

"Don't you touch my sister," Ron snarled. The panic that had gripped Ginny still lingered, her mind was fuzzy. Ron's wand pointed directly at Tom's heart.

"And don't call my sister Gin!" Ron shouted. Fire suddenly erupted from the end of his wand and struck Tom in the chest. The women who had been sobbing began to scream as Tom's skin began to burn away.

---

Still on fire young version of Voldemort toppled backward into the fat man. The fire spread from one to the other and both became a ball of flame. The fat man dropped Harry onto the floor. The fire began to spread, seeping out along the carpet and up the walls. The women was touched by the flame and became engulfed in it.

Ron leapt the flames and lifted Harry onto his back then leapt back over the growing fire.

"We have to get out of here!" Ron shouted at Ginny over the roar of the fire. Ginny didn't respond. Her eyes were glazed over. Ron took Ginny and pulled her from the room.

The fire was everywhere, it was burning the walls and the portraits of the fat child upon them. Ron tried the handle on the cupboard under the stairs but it didn't open. The only other door that hadn't been touched by the flames was the front door. Ron pulled Ginny along behind him as he rushed to it. Harry felt heavy on Ron's back and Ginny didn't seem to know what was going on. It was like she was asleep.

With all his might Ron pulled the front door open. The wood around the hinges cracked and splintered and the door came free from the wall. Ron took a step outside and stopped.

If Ron had thought that this place was strange before he was fairly sure that up until this moment everything had been perfectly normal. He had no idea what he was seeing now. There was no lawn, in fact no ground at all outside the house. They stood on a small piece of concrete attached to the house but much beyond that was nothing. A huge starless sky surrounded them.

The fire from the burning house jumped up into the sky. Cracks appeared and different moving images started to emerge. Some of them Ron recognized others he did not.

From above them there was a cracking noise and a chunk of the sky zoomed past them. The images began to cross over into one another. Peoples faces merged together and buildings became a combination of places.

Ron had a bad feeling about this. Ginny still stood next to him, her eyes were glazed over, she didn't seem to be seeing any of this. Harry was limp on his back and Ron didn't have any clue where Hermione was or how they were supposed to escape.

There was a boom and one of the images I the sky exploded outwards. Parts of the image flew and collided with other images. Colors began to mix. Ron couldn't identify anything in most of the images anymore.

"_Impedimento_!" a voice shouted from some place below. Ron looked down over the edge of the concrete square he was standing on. Far below standing in one of the memories was Hermione, her wand out. She turned to another image and shot a spell out. As the spell impacted with the memory it slowed and colors and images began to form shapes again. The memory grew smaller and sunk back into the night sky.

"_Impedimento!_" a similar but different voice shouted from higher and off to Ron's right. Standing on what looked like the end of a staircase was Hermione, her wand out firing spells up into the night sky. Ron turned and looked back down at where Hermione had just been. Hermione was still standing below him too.

"_Impedimento!_" shouts were now coming from ever direction. There seemed to be hundreds of Hermiones all shooting spells into the night sky.

Ron felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder. He turned, there was another Hermione standing behind him but she looked different than he remembered her. The house had burned to the ground and only piles of ash remained.

Hermione's face looked pale and her eyes unfocused. Hermione held her hand up Ron could see that her thumb and forefinger were pressed together.

Ron had no idea what was going on. Hermione pulled her fingers apart. The world jerked forward. Everything vanished and Ron was left in blackness for a moment. The walls of Hermione's room began to come back into view.

---

The three of them were sitting on the floor. Hermione was leaning heavily against Ron's shoulder. Ginny haphazardly pulled the silver chain off from around her neck. She got to her feet swaying as she stumbled towards the door to the room.

Ginny was only able to take a few steps before she collapsed in a heap to the floor. Ron in a panic for his sister tried to get up to help her but didn't think to remove the silver chain from around his neck. Ron let out a cough as the chain strangled his throat and he toppled back down against Hermione.

Ron pulled the chain off rubbing his sore neck and gently lay Hermione down against the floor. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow.

Ron was starting to panic. He moved to Ginny and shook her roughly but she did not respond. Ron could think of only one thing. He had to get them to the hospital wing.

Ron put his arm around Hermione and lifted her. She wasn't very heavy but she was still a bit hard for Ron to carry with just one arm. With his other arm Ron supported Ginny in much the same fashion. Neither girl seemed concuss. Half dragging them to the door Ron moved slowly supporting both Ginny and Hermione.

It was a battle to open the door but as last Ron managed it. There were more then a few girls out in the hall. Some of them looked surprised others looked horror shocked. They were all trying to talk at once. But the pounding of blood in Ron's ears made it impossible for him to hear what they were saying.

Ron struggled down the stairs almost falling once, but his determination kept him on his feet. He had to help his friend and his sister. He didn't know how badly they might be injured. The common room still had many students in it, as Ron appeared the talking all but stopped.

Someone was shouting but Ron couldn't tell who. People were making a path for Ron. Ron felt someone lifting Ginny off his arm, it was Neville. Ron let go as Neville took Ginny to carry. A group of Gryffindors followed them out into the hallway. Ron turned.

"Everyone, stay here," Ron said hoarsely. Some of the students nodded but others continued to argue. Ron knew he didn't have time for this. Turning he continued towards the hospital wing. There was angry shouting coming from behind him but no one except for Neville followed.

"It looks like the DA is keeping them at bay," Neville said pulling along side Ron. "What happened?" Neville asked.

"I don't know," Ron grunted as they turned down a hallway.

They were almost to the hospital wing when Ron heard a breath on his ear.

"wait," the voice said. Ron stopped and a second latter the door to the hospital wing opened and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape hurried out.

"We must act quickly," Snape said, "the dark lord will be off guard. Now is our…" they turned around a hallway and Ron could no longer make out any of the words.

The hospital wing doors swung shut, Ron readjusted Hermione's weight across his shoulders and continued on to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was not inside. Harry was laying on a bed not far down the row. Ron and Neville each found and empty bed and put the girls on them.

"I'll go find Madam Pomfrey," Neville said exasperated. All Ron could do was nod. He took Hermione's hand, it was cold and she didn't react.

"Please be okay 'mione," Ron whispered as he watched her. Madam Pomfrey emerged a moment latter trailing behind Neville.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she moved over to Ginny, who was closer, first.

"They just kind of collapsed," Ron said. He remembered Ginny saying that whatever it was they had done, it had been illegal. Ron looked down at the pendant around Hermione's neck. Ron clamped his hand over it and pulled it off stuffing it into his pocket.

"Well the poor dear has just over exerted herself, usually we get a lot of this latter in the year." Madam Pomfrey said as she examined Ginny. "A good nights sleep is all she needs to work it off." Madam Pomfrey moved around to Hermione and placed a hand on her forehead. Madam Pomfrey pulled the hand away quickly, there was shock in her eyes. She pulled out her wand and gently tapped Hermione on the forehead, the tip of the wand glowed purple.

"I, I don't know what's wrong," Madam Pomfrey said, her voice sounded somewhat panicked now. Madam Pomfrey turned and vanished into her office. Ron looked uneasily at Neville who was sitting next to Ginny. Neville looked unnerved. Ron couldn't blame him, three of his friends were now laying in hospital beds and he had no idea what had happened. Come to think of it Ron had been there and he had no idea what had happened.

Madam Pomfrey reappeared with a large book, she set it on the stand next to Hermione. She tried different things with her wand. Each attempt brought different colors and sounds but none seemed to be what Madam Pomfrey was looking for as she would flip to a new page of the book after each try.

"I think you should go back to your dormitories," Madam Pomfrey said when almost an hour had past. "I still can find nothing wrong with her, nothing that I have ever encountered. It would be best if you go get some sleep." Ron didn't move. He wasn't going to leave his friends here alone. Madam Pomfrey pursed her lip. "There isn't anything you can do for them here. Now unless you want me to call Professor McGonagall to escort you out…"

"I'm going to stay here," Ron said defiantly, "with my friends." Madam Pomfrey pursed her lip. "Very well then, Mr. Weasley, you may sit quietly over there," she indicated a chair on the other side of the room, "but you must be silent well I work." Ron nodded. He moved over to Neville.

"Go back to the common room and tell the rest of the Gryffindors everything is fine." Ron whispered. Neville nodded and then hurried out. Ron took a seat watching as Madam Pomfrey continued to try and diagnose Hermione without success.

* * *

Authors Notes:

File error…

Unable to load authors notes…

Loading random comments…

THERE IS NO FORK! Wait no, I found it…

Blue and Red are the same color…

I see some walls and some ceilings… NO, wait, one ceiling

sin cos cos sin 3.14159

I spy with my little eye something beginning with the letter 'H'

Okay now that's out of my system on to the authors notes!

A big thanks to the people still reading my story, I know some of you would like me to put up chapters much faster than I am but I swear that I am going as fast as is possible! Writing doesn't take me that long but proofing chapters takes me a while (usually 3+ days).

I have the next 3 chapters written but haven't proofed any of them yet. Tomorrow I will do my first proof of chapter 15, so it should be up by Thursday at the latest (shooting for Wednesday)

THANK YOU ALL for the great reviews! Taking the time to write your comments to me really does mean a great deal! Please keep the reviews coming!


	15. – Inside my Head

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 15 – Inside my Head

Harry blink groggily, his head hurt very badly. The lights on the ceiling were swaying back and forth. Harry wasn't sure where he was. His thoughts seemed all jumbled up.

He closed his eyes, rolled over on his side and took a long breath preparing his body for getting out of bed. When he opened his eyes he found Hermione staring at him, uncomfortably close to his face. Harry pulled back in surprise feeling now fully awake. But when Harry blinked Hermione vanished like a ghost. The image of her face faded quickly but Harry still felt unnerved.

He rubbed his hand against his head. His thoughts were starting to become clearer now. Harry pushed himself up and looked around to find himself in the hospital wing.

What had happened to him? Harry focused his mind trying to think back. To his surprise everything snapped into place like it never had before. Harry could recall each event in dramatic detail.

The door with the blackness behind it was where his memories trailed off. The next thing Harry could clearly recall was waking up here. Fragments of dreams littered the blank space in between.

Harry shook his head. There wasn't anyone else in the hospital wing. All the other beds were empty and even Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be found.

Not wanting to stay in this place any longer Harry pull his sheets off, stepped out of bed, found his clothing, dressed and left.

Harry's stomach groaned behind his shirt. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything, yesterday maybe? His feet turned and began to take him towards the great hall. The light outside the windows indicated it was still morning, though how early it was Harry didn't know.

The great hall was packed with people and still more people were arriving. Harry checked the clock on the wall, he still had 30 minutes before class. Harry moved down the Gryffindor table and found the spot where he usually sat, next to Ron.

"Morning," Harry said as he sat down next to Ron. Ginny dropped her cup of pumpkin juice and the orange liquid inside spread out across the table. Ron jumped. Many of the people around Harry went silent.

"Harry!" Ron said his face a mixer surprise and excitement. Ginny was glowing red as she tried to contain the spilled pumpkin juice. "Blimey mate it's great to see you!" Harry felt confused he had seen Ron yesterday.

"Don't be silly Ronald," Harry said. "I saw you yesterday at dinner." Ron looked taken aback. "What?"

"Harry, didn't anyone tell you," Ron asked uneasily.

"Tell me what?" Harry said as he reached for some toast. He was starting to feel a bit annoyed with Ron, it always took him so long to get to the point.

"You've been in the hospital wing all week long," Ginny said when Ron failed to answer. "Today is Friday." It was Harry's turn to feel surprised. Surly he couldn't have been asleep for that long. But Harry knew Ginny wasn't joking.

As Ginny and Harry looked across the table at each other Ginny squinted as though looking for something on Harry's face that she could barley see.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Where are your glasses?" Ginny asked. Harry had completely forgotten about them. He had pushed them into his pocket when he had dressed. Harry shrugged.

"I guess I didn't put them on," Harry said simply, "But I'm seeing just fine without them." Ginny looked uneasy but Harry didn't give it anymore thought. Right now he was hungry.

Breakfast tasted better than Harry remembered it, like he was having his first taste of good food. But the things on Harry's plate were what he always ate… weren't they? Harry wasn't sure. It didn't matter, it all tasted good.

As though and internal alarm had gone off Harry glanced up at the clock on the wall, fifteen till. He felt a panic. If today was Friday that meant he had Defense Against the Dark Arts started in ten minutes and he hadn't had time to study the shield spell at all! They had a test on it today and he had done so poorly last time. He had meant to ask… to ask someone… Harry's mind was fuzzy as he tried to recall the mental note. There had been someone in the class that had preformed the shield spell flawlessly well Harry had only managed a small glow. But for the life of him Harry couldn't remember who it had been.

"Come on Ronald," Harry said grabbing Ron's arm and standing. Ron looked taken off guard.

"What?" Ron managed.

"We have class in 15 minutes!" Harry said.

"That gives us 10 more minutes to eat doesn't it?" Ron asked as Harry pulled Ron along behind him.

---

Harry and Ron were the first people to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The room was empty.

"Well," Ron said, "I hope you're happy, sitting alone in a class room is exactly how I wanted to spend morning." Ron said sarcastically.

"Shut up Ron," Harry retorted, "it's better to be early than late." Harry said as he moved over his notes, they seemed incomplete and undetailed. Some of the notes didn't even relate to the class. Harry couldn't understand how he had let his notes slide so much last lesson.

"Harry," Ron said uncertainly. "Are you sure you're feeling alright, because you've been acting pretty strange mate."

"I feel fine Ronald," Harry said. As he turned the piece of parchments with his notes over, hoping he had written something on the other side.

There was only one line on the other side, written in neat hand writing that Harry didn't recognize. The line was very small. Harry squinted and looked closer. As Harry read the words it was like a voice inside his head was speaking them.

"help me," the words and the voice said together. Harry dropped the parchment.

"There that's exactly what I mean," Ron said, "we've been friends for six years now and not once have you ever called me Ronald!" Harry looked back down at the piece of parchment but there were no words on the back. Harry flipped the page back to the front, he must still not be fully awake.

"Don't be silly," Harry said as he looked over at Ron, "I call you Ron all the time mate."

"If you're joking, Harry, it isn't funny," Ron said. Harry didn't have a clue what Ron was talking about, he could be so irritable some times. Harry was trying to study, trying to get ready for the test but Ron kept talking mindless chatter.

"Sometimes, you're a pain in the ass, Ronald." Harry said. Ron drew back like Harry had struck him. Finally he had shut up and Harry cloud scan through his notes uninterrupted. There seemed to be nothing talking about the wandless shield spell in them.

The door to the classroom opened and other students began to arrive. Ron wasn't looking at Harry anymore. Ron was a jerk anyhow, Harry thought as he organized his parchment on his desk.

The room filled with students, but Professor Solaris had still not arrived. Harry waited patiently. It seemed that Solaris had a tendency for being late to class… or did he? Harry thought about last time. The illusion he'd used would've taken time to prepare, he would have had to of fact been early.

"Stupid git's late again," Malfoy hissed. Harry pursed his lips and noticed something odd. Harry looked at the person sitting next to Malfoy, then Harry's eyes flicked to the back of the room. Harry realized what was going on and he couldn't help but smile.

'Very clever professor,' Harry thought. Goyle, who was sitting next to Malfoy, winked at Harry but did not say anything.

"What are you smirking at Potter," Malfoy hissed. Harry let out a laugh, this was too funny. Malfoy stood from his seat taking a step towards Harry and pulled his wand threateningly. "Too bad your dirty mudblood isn't hear to protect you!"

A hand reached up from next to Malfoy and pulled the wand from his grip. Malfoy whirled in surprise as Goyle stood from his seat a moved to the front of the class room.

"Goyle what are you doing!" Malfoy said angrily.

"I am suspending the use of your wand, Mr. Malfoy," Goyle said, but the voice that had come out of Goyle's throat was not his own. Malfoy's face went pale and he sank slowly back down into his seat.

Harry didn't know how he had spotted it so quickly but he had noticed that the class room contained two Goyles instead of one.

"We have a few more moments before the Polyjuice potion wears off," Goyle said from the front of the class. "I counted five Slytherin and two Gryffindor students who were able to spot me and I am awarding ten points for each of them. However due to Mr. Malfoy's inappropriate behavior, and comment, I will take be taking 20 points from Slytherin. And Mr. Malfoy I would like a word after class."

Malfoy opened his mouth to protest but as he did Goyle's skin rippled the black hair on his head began to grow longer and become silver in color. His pudgy face hardened and Goyle became slightly taller. The man standing before them was not Goyle any longer, it was Professor Solaris dressed in Slytherin robes.

"Much better, no offence Mr. Goyle," Solaris said looking at Goyle sitting in the back of the class room. "So, who here can explain the properties of the Polyjuice potion." Harry's hand shot up into the air. Solaris pointed him out.

"The Polly-Metamorphism potion, also called the polyjuice potion, is a potion that once ingested can transform the drinker into the appearance of another person. The potion is most effective when used for the same gender and should not be used for animal transformations. The potion has an effective length of exactly one hour." Harry said. The rest of the room had become very quite and Harry wasn't sure what was wrong. Even Ron was staring at him. But Solaris seemed oblivious to whatever it was the other students thought was wrong.

"Very good Mr. Potter," Solaris said, "5 points for Gryffindor. As this demonstration proves the Polyjuice potion is less effective when the person you are trying to disguise yourself as, is in the room. I am, however, surprised that so few Slytherin were able to spot me.

"Can anyone tell me what magical spells exist to detect someone using the Polyjuice potion?" Again Harry's hand shot into the air, Solaris waited a moment looking for other hands but there was no one else. Solaris pointed Harry out again.

"There are no known spells that can detect someone using the Polyjuice potion," Harry said, "there is another potion that will counter act the effects of the Polyjuice potion but detecting someone using the Polyjuice potion is usually a matter of perception not magic." Solaris nodded.

"Correct again, Mr. Potter, another 5 points for Gryffindor." Solaris said. "Not all form of magical concealment can be detected by spells. For those of you who haven't figured it out yet each class will not only be lessons in Defense but also detection." Solaris moved behind his desk and pulled out a glowing white ball of what appeared to be mist.

"Quills and parchment," Solaris said as he held the ball. "I want you to focus, to look past the mist. See the object hidden behind it." Harry concentrated. Slowly an outline began to emerge. First it was just a dark shadow but soon Harry could make out a shape in side, it was a… a tea kettle?

"If you can see the object, please keep the answer to yourself," Solaris said, "write the number one, on your parchment and the name of the object." Solaris produced a wand, made a circle and tapped the air with a quick strike like he was tapping the top of an invisible desk. A stone pillar began to pour out of the end of Solaris' wand. The pillar had the number one on it.

Solaris set the ball of mist down on top of the pillar and then pulled another object out from behind his desk. The new object was a vase. Again Solaris created a pillar and placed the vase atop it. The process was repeated until more than twenty pillars, twenty five by Harry's count, were lined across the front of the room. Each had a different object on top it with a different type on concealment spells.

Harry recognized all of them. He quickly finished his list. The scratching of quills and whispers still reached his ears and he knew he had been the first to finish. Some of the concealment spells were very advanced. Number 13 for example was the Invisacus charm, which made objects not only invisible but intangible, that was N.E.W.T level spell. Lucky for Harry he had spent extensive time in the library studying for his N.E.W.T.s last year. The funny thing was that he couldn't recall when or what books he had read about them.

Class was half over when Solaris asked for the parchments to be handed forward. Many people groaned and a couple in the back even protested. Solaris held up a hand.

"This is simply an evaluation of your knowledge of concealment," Solaris said in a calming voice. "It's not a test, well, it is. But I would be surprised if anyone was able to see all of the objects here." Ron held his hand out to take Harry's paper. Harry started to hand it to him when he noticed something odd in the top corer. He had written down the wrong name. Harry's quill hovered over the words for a moment confused at what he had been thinking. Harry tapped his quill against the parchment and whispered 'eradcus' the ink words, 'Regnarg Enoimreh' sunk into Harry's parchment and vanished. Harry scrawled his name across the top and passed his paper to Ron.

Harry had been felling a nagging in the back of his brain throughout the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Like there was something he had forgotten about or something he hadn't remembered to do.

Solaris took the stack of papers and placed them on his desk.

"And now the moment you have all been looking forward too, your first Defense test. I hope you've all practiced." Solaris said with a smile. Groans came from the students. Harry felt a panic, he hadn't practiced at all and last time his shield had been horrible!

But that wasn't right, last time Harry's shield had been flawless, the best out of the class. Harry's head was starting to beat with a steady drum. This minor headache had come and gone most of the morning but this time it felt more intense.

Solaris began to call out names of students asking them to come to the front of the class to perform their shield spell in before of everyone. There was an uneasy knot in Harry's stomach. What if he couldn't make a shield at all? Harry pictured the whole class laughing and pointing at him. Except for one person sitting in the first row who looked far more nervous than Harry felt.

The delusion snapped away as Solaris called Harry's name.

"Very good Mr. Weasley," Solaris said ticking off something on the notepad he had in his hands. "Alright, Mr. Potter you're up."

'Focus, focus," Harry chanted as he stood and moved before the whole of the class. 'You have done this before you can do it again, just pretend there isn't anyone watching.' Harry held his palms out. 'See the shield.'

"_Protego_!" Harry said. A small ball of light glowed dimly between his hands but a shield did not form. Solaris looked surprised. Harry could hear murmurs from some of the students sitting in front of him. It was no use, he just couldn't do magic without a wand.

"Try again, Mr. Potter," Solaris said uneasily, "remember, _see_ the shield." Harry nodded, his face screwed up with concentration. Harry closed his eyes willing for strength.

"_Protego._" Harry said again but this time as he said the word there was a voice in his head that whispered, "it's impossible." The glow between Harry's hands vanished more quickly than last time. It had been even smaller. Harry looked at his hand as if they had something to do with his problem.

"I think that's enough, Mr. Potter," Solaris said concerned. Harry could see the smug smile on Malfoy's face, could hear the whisperings of the class. Solaris moved his quill to make a note on the paper.

"Wait," Harry said defiantly. Solaris looked up at him. "Let me try once more, Professor." Solaris' face remained passive and for a moment Harry saw the Seraphim as he really was. It was like seeing past a concealment spell, all the humanness that had been out of place vanished for an instant.

"Go ahead, Mr. Potter." Solaris said. Harry nodded.

'I can do this, I know it's possible!' Harry said to himself.

'It isn't,' said the voice in his head. 'You just can't cast a spell without a wand!'

"Yes I can," Harry said allowed. "_PROTEGO!_" Harry roared. There was a flash of light and in front of Harry a huge shield erupted into existence. The top ended high above Harry's head and the bottom cut into the floor. There was a cry of surprise from the students out in front of Harry. Solaris was saying something but Harry couldn't hear him.

The shield was starting to become heavy, the light unbearably bright. There was shouting now but Harry couldn't understand the words that were being said.

Many voices echoed from in front of Harry, they were shouting something. Harry felt the shield tremble in his hands but it did not vanish. Shouts came again, louder and more voices this time. "_EX PRATICUS!_" Harry was able to hear the words this time but he had no idea what they meant. Again the shield shuttered but it didn't vanish. A third roar erupted from in front of Harry, this one almost deafening. This time the shield became completely still, the light dimmed and the protective barrier shimmered away.

Harry was looking at the class, they all had their wands pointed at him. Harry felt drained, like all the energy inside him had been sucked out.

"That was most impressive, Mr. Potter," Solaris said as he held his arms out for the class to lower their wands. Harry didn't know what was going on, why did all of the have their wands pointed at him. Had they been trying to attack him? Then Harry noticed that many of the Slytherin students didn't have their wands out at all. "It took the full strength of this class to dispel your shield. You must be protecting something very important to you to have created such a barrier." Solaris looked around as the teacher like air returned to him.

"But just because Mr. Potter can make a very big shield doesn't mean the rest of you get to slack. Please take a seat please Mr. Potter." Solaris said. He waited until Harry was back at his desk before making a note on his pad.

"Next up, Mr. Longbottom," Solaris said. Neville took a deep breath and moved before the class.

---

Harry was happy to finally get to lunch. His head had been pounding all through the rest of the lesson. Harry wasn't even sure what the homework had been.

'Study concealment of locations,' something in Harry's head rang out. The pounding became worse and he felt tired from his ordeal with the shield spell. Harry was seriously considering going to the hospital wing but he couldn't miss Arithmancy, there was a test today.

Ron was unusually quite as he sat next to Harry. Ginny kept looking between them.

"If you two keep fighting like that people are going to think you're married or something!" Ginny said with a giggle.

"What," Ron gasped. "That's not funny, Ginny!"

Harry let out a sigh.

"Don't worry, Ronald," Harry said as he put his arm around Ron's shoulders. "I won't tell anyone if you don't." Ron pushed Harry's arm off.

"Shove off Harry!" Ron said angrily. Harry felt hurt he hadn't meant to be funny, just supportive. Harry turned away from Ron and seriously considered taking up his place further down the table again.

"Anyway," Ginny said shaking her head at the both of them, "are you sure you're feeling alright, Harry?" Harry shrugged, his head was pounding and he could barley keep his eyes open.

"Fine," Harry lied. Ginny's eyes narrowed like something in his voice had given him away. "Really, I'm fine. But I wish I'd had more time to study for the test in my next class." Harry added.

"Test!" Ron cried sitting up. "What test! I don't remember Trelawney saying anything about a test!" Harry felt confused.

"Don't be silly Ronald," Harry said. "I meant in Arithmancy." Ron's jaw dropped open.

"Harry," Ginny said, her voice sounded uneasy. "I really do think something's wrong."

"I told you," Harry said starting to feel angrily. "I'm fine." Harry's head began to pound harder. What was wrong with him? "I need to go to the bathroom, I'll catch you up latter." Harry stood and left the great hall.

Harry pushed the bathroom door open and headed for one of the sinks to rinse his face. Harry ran the cold water and splashed it against his skin. He looked up into the mirror to see if there was anything visibly wrong with him.

For a moment Harry wasn't sure what he was looking at. The face in the mirror wasn't his own but it was the same time. The world around Harry suddenly shifted like there had been a small earth quake. Harry gripped the sink for support. The headache was pounding inside his head now.

Harry's scar burst with pain and Harry couldn't help but let out a cry. Voices suddenly struck up from the stalls behind him, girls voices.

"Oh my god!" One of the voices shouted, "Is that a boy!"

"GET OUT!" Another voice shouted. "GET OUT YOU PERVERT!"

Harry looked around realizing where he was. He had gone into the Girls bathroom by mistake. Harry rushed out the door.

His head pounded again and his scar flared like it was on fire. Harry staggered off down the hallway trying to keep his balance as the world doubled before his eyes. He was having trouble seeing now. The walls all seemed to be moving. Harry pushed his palms against his eyes as he leaned against a wall for support. It felt like things were exploding inside his head.

As suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. Harry opened his eyes. The world had stopped moving. He took a long breath as the fire inside his head slowly dimmed but the headache remained, pulsing dimly as if to remind him that it hadn't bee a dream.

Harry had to get to class. He wasn't sure what time it was but he knew that it had to be almost time by now.

Harry began to walk down the corridor towards Arithmancy. He was almost there when the headache returned in full force for an instant. It felt like someone had hit him hard in the back of the head.

Harry looked around. What was he doing here? This was no where close to his Divination class. Harry turned and headed up a few flights of stairs. He was most likely late by now but he didn't care.

As Harry passed a window something outside caught his eye. He turned to see what it was but all he saw was his own reflection, bushy brown hair and soft face. Harry ran his hand along his face. Something wasn't right, on his forehead he felt a scar but in his reflection there wasn't one.

Harry blinked and the reflection had been replaced by his own. Harry looked uncertainly at the glass trying to remember what he had just seen but the more he tried to recall it the further away it slipped.

"Are you alright Mr. Potter?" A voice asked from next to Harry. It was Professor Solaris he had a stack of papers clenched in one hand. Harry looked at him blankly.

"Fine," Harry said. He wasn't sure why he kept telling people this. Solaris nodded. Harry had half expected him to say 'are you sure' or 'you don't look fine to me.' But Solaris looked perfectly content with Harry's answer.

"You had better get off to class then, Mr. Potter," Solaris said. "You're already late." Harry nodded and head off down the hall towards Arithmancy. For the life of him Harry couldn't recall why he had been so far away from the class room.

Harry reached the door and took a deep breath. He had never been late for Arithmancy before and he wasn't sure how Professor Vector's would take it.

Harry turned the knob and opened the door. Professor Vector's voice died as he looked at Harry. Harry had interrupted a lecture, the worst crime of all against any teacher.

"Yes," Professor Vector said, his voice was gruff and he had a short white beard around the bottom of his face. He looked very out of place, much more like a muggle than any professor Harry had ever seen. "How can I help you?"

Harry felt surprised, he was late but that didn't mean Professor Vector had to pretend he didn't know who Harry was. After all Harry had been his top student for the last 3 years.

"I'm sorry I am late Professor," Harry said moving towards his seat. Professor Vector looked surprised.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter isn't it?" Professor Vector said. For a moment Harry was about to say 'no, my name is…' but he had lost the thought midway through so he just nodded instead.

"I wasn't informed that you would be joining our class." Professor Vector said. "Do you have a note?" Harry felt uneasy. He didn't have a note for being late because there was no excuse for his tardiness.

"I'm sorry Professor, I don't have one," Harry said.

"Well Mr. Potter unless you are well versed on tri-complex congregational theory I would suggest that you retrieve a note to be here before jumping into the middle of an advanced Arithmancy class."

"Tri-complex congregational theory is the mathematical theory for providing a negative area of a transfigured object. Express by x of i over therticon c." Professor Vector looked taken aback for a moment.

"That's correct Mr. Potter." Some of the other students turned to look back at Harry. They should all know by know that he had already read the entire Arithmancy book. Professor Vector pointed at a long magical equation on the board. "What do you think the answer to this problem is, Mr. Potter?"

Harry read it carefully. It was a simple problem even a first year Arithmancy student could solve it.

"It's…" Harry began but his mind had blanked. The words were on the tip of his tongue but he just couldn't get it out. "It's… I don't know…" Harry looked around at the room. What was he doing here, this wasn't Divination. All of the students were looking at him.

"Excuse me," Harry said standing and moving to the door. No one said anything as Harry exited the class. Harry stood in the hallway outside. What had come over him?

Harry dully considered going to his divination class but decided against it.

Something was horribly wrong inside Harry's head. This headache wasn't getting better, it was getting worse. Harry didn't clearly recall entering the Arithmancy class or even why he had come to it in the first place.

Harry was trying to figure out what to do now. His voice suddenly spoke as though it had a will of its own.

"Hermione," Harry said dully. "Hermione might know what to do!" Harry realized. That must have been the reason he had come to Arithmancy class, to find Hermione! But she hadn't been there. Harry tried to think where else she might be.

Harry couldn't think of any other place to look for her. Who knew Hermione better than he did, Ron? No, Ron might have a crush on Hermione, but they were always fighting and their personalities differed far too much for Ron to think much like Hermione.

Ginny? Harry realized. Her and Hermione, for the most part were almost always talking with each other. Harry could recall some very private conversations the two of them had had. Harry shook his head. A moment ago he had been some place else, been someone else.

"I have to find Ginny." Harry realized as he thought it aloud. But where was she? Today was Friday, what class did Ginny have on Friday. Her class schedule popped into Harry's head almost the moment he had thought about it, along with the schedules of many other students. Harry didn't recall when he'd had time to read everyone else's schedule but apparently he knew them all.

Ginny would be in Care of Magical Creatures today. It was a normal class which meant…

The bell rang above Harry's head. Which meant she was getting out of it now. Harry recalled the next class in her schedule, Herbology in greenhouse 5. Moving quickly Harry sprinted down the hallway. Ginny was much closer to the class room than we was.

Harry was a little out of breath when he arrived at the entrance to greenhouse 5. A few moments latter a large group of Gryffindor fifth-years appeared.

"Harry?" A voice asked from some place in the crowed. A red headed witch pushed her way out from the cluster of students and sprinted full speed into Harry wrapping her arms around him.

Some of the Gryffindor girls giggled. Harry ignored him.

"Ginny," Harry said taking her by the shoulders and pulling her back from him so he could look into her face. "Do you know where Hermione is?" Ginny seemed taken aback by the question. She licked her lips.

"I think she is in the hospital wing," Ginny said. "Harry, what's wrong."

"Nothing," Harry said hurriedly. "Thanks," Harry let Ginny go and began to hurry off but he had only gone a few steps when a hand grabbed his wrist.

"Something is wrong Harry," Ginny said from behind him. She had a tight grasp on his wrist. "Tell me." Harry tried to pull free but Ginny held him fast.

"I just need to see Hermione," Harry said. Ginny's grip tightened.

"Because you don't want to see me?" Ginny asked pain in her voice. Harry stopped trying to pull away. He turned to look at Ginny and noticed that the group of Gryffindor students were watching, their ears wide trying to listen in.

"No," Harry said leaning closer to Ginny and whispering. "Something isn't right, I think Hermione might know how to fix it." This however didn't seem to calm Ginny at all.

"I'm pretty smart too, why don't you try trusting me for once?" Ginny said in a hurt voice. Harry's head pounded and he winced. Ginny searched his face, there was fear in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Pain," Harry said mashing his hand into scar. "Unbearable pain."

"Come on," Ginny said sternly, "were going to get Ron!"

---

At first Ginny had pulled Harry along behind her but after a while she finally let go and Harry followed obediently.

They had reached the staircase below Trelawney's room.

"Wait here," Ginny said and she vanished up the stairs. For the moment the pain in Harry's head had vanished again but this time he had been left with a feeling of urgency. It was becoming more important for Harry to find Hermione because something… something bad was happening to her. Harry didn't know how he could even know this but he did.

Harry considered heading off to try and find her on his own but Ginny reappeared before Harry could make up his mind. Ron was following right behind her.

"Thanks for the rescue," Ron said. "I thought she was going to bore me to death, I mean…" Ron spotted Harry. "What's wrong?" Ron's tone changed to concern now.

"Not here," Ginny said. She took Harry by the wrist again and pulled him down the hallway looking for an empty class room. The three of them moved inside and Ginny locked the door with a magical spell.

"Ron where is the Ethereal Connector charm?" Ginny said turning on her brother. Ron looked suddenly uneasy like he had been put under a spot light.

"I… I told you I don't… we must have lost it on the way to the hospital wing," Ron managed to stammer out. Even Harry could tell that Ron wasn't being truthful, he was poor liar to say the least. Ginny moved in on him.

"Ron, I know your lying to me, where is it?" Ginny said, Harry swore that her eyes were glowing red with anger. Ron looked around in panic.

"Look, Ginny I don't think we should use it again," Ron said there was a tear rolling down his face and he looked like he was going to burst out crying any second. Harry had never seen Ron like this before.

"Give it to me Ron," Ginny said angrily.

"No," Ron said. "You almost didn't make it out last time and Hermione…" Ron trailed off, he couldn't bring himself to say whatever had happened to Hermione.

"That's what we need it for!" Ginny said. "Hermione didn't make it out, she is still inside Harry's head." Both Ron and Harry were taken aback by this.

"What?" Harry said. Had Ginny gone mad? "Gin, that's ridiculous, how could Hermione be inside my head."

"We used a charm called an Ethereal Connecter," Ginny said turning on Harry. "It lets you enter into peoples minds. We went in to help you but we got separated from Hermione. I think that somehow she didn't make it out with me and Ron. You've been calling Ron, Ronald all day long, that's exactly what Hermione calls him when she is annoyed with him. I'm also willing to bet there are a lot of other things you have seen or heard, like her voice, or images of her."

Harry felt taken aback how could Ginny possible know that.

"It's called Ego Entanglement, its one of the dangers of ethereal intrusion." Ginny said. "and a big reason why it's illegal."

"How do you know all this?" Harry asked uncertainly. This was the sort of thing he would have expected from Hermione.

"Let's just say I put a lot of time and study into this area of magic, for personal reasons." Ginny said. "I don't have time to explain it all now," Ginny added as Harry was about to ask another question. "Ron give the me charm or I swear I will hex you so badly that you won't be able to walk for a year!" Ron still looked defiant but produced from his pocket a small white square on a silver chain. Ginny snatched it out of his hand.

"I won't let you go alone," Ron protested. Ginny looked at him as she put the charm around her neck, she took a deep breath.

"You need to stay here this time Ron, so that if something goes wrong you can get help." Ginny said.

"No," Ron retorted angrily. "I won't let you do this by yourself!" Ginny shook her head and took hold of the charm without responding. Her body went limp and Ron managed to grab her before she collapsed against the floor.

"Damn it Ginny!" Ron shouted. He tried to pull her fingers off the charm but Harry's hand shot out.

"Don't," Harry said his eyes wide. "She has to release it if you pull her fingers off she might not be able to return to her body." Ron looked at Harry helplessly as he held his sisters limp body in his arms.

Harry waited for any sign that Ginny had entered his mind but there wasn't anything besides the slow pounding of the headache.

Ginny let out a long breath and her eye's fluttered open as her hand released the charm.

"You're alright!" Ron said relieved. "I can't believe you just did that!"

"I don't think that helped," Harry said as the headache began to pick up pace.

"I couldn't get in," Ginny said as she pushed herself up and got to her feet. "There's some kind of barrier stopping me. Dumbledore must have put some kind of shield in place."

Harry reached for one of the desk as he felt unsteady.

"The headache is getting worse." Harry said as he pressed his hand against his head. Ginny looked uneasy.

"I think your headache is being caused by the break down of the ego borderline." Ginny said uneasily.

"Which means what?" Ron asked.

"It means that either he or Hermione is losing the war to exist in Harry's mind," Ginny said. "If we can't find a way in soon to help sort this out…" Ginny looked away.

"Then what?" Ron said now panicked.

"Then…" Ginny said her voice was chocked.

"Then one of us will die." Harry said finishing. Ginny had tears rolling down her face and Ron didn't look much better. The headache was letting up again and Harry's thoughts were becoming clearer now. They needed another way into his head.

"What about Legilimancy?" Harry asked.

"Not with the barrier that's in place now," Ginny said rubbing the tears from her face. "It would be almost impossible and we might do more damage than good. There might be something else, a potion, Iturss serum, but it would take months to make and it wouldn't let _us_ into you mind to help."

Harry nodded as his brain recalled the Iturss serum. It was a concoction that permitted the drinker to enter their own mind. Most often used by Aurors on witnesses to a crime. Harry recalled reading about it in one of the books in the restricted section, it was a very complex potion with hard to come by ingredients.

Then a thought occurred to Harry, a horrific. But there wasn't any other choice, Hermione was in danger.

"Snape might have it," Harry announced.

"But even if he does," Ron said, "how are you going to get it from him, break into his room?"

"No," Harry said, he knew what he had to do. He had to swallow his pride. "I'm going to ask for his help."

"WHAT!" Ron cried out in surprise. "Harry he'll probably expel you on the spot if you…"

"I don't have time to worry about that and I don't have time to get this wrong," Harry said angrily. "If Hermione is in danger I can't put her at any more risk by being a fool, even if it means being expelled." Harry snatched the pendent from Ron. "You two get back to class."

"Were coming with you mate!" Ron said defiantly.

"No," Harry said his temper flaring, made worse by the headache pounding against his skull. "You two have already gotten too involved."

"She is our friend too!" Ginny said defiantly. "Its our fault she is in danger in the first place!"

"You won't be able to do anything to help," Harry said angrily. "Now go back to class and let me deal with this."

"No way," Ron said. "We won't let you do this alone." Harry took a deep breath. He already felt bad about what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry then Ron, Gin," Harry said whipping out his wand. "_Petrificus Totalus!_" Ron fell backwards to the floor stiff as a board Ginny had her wand half out before her arms snapped to her sides and sat motionless on the floor. "I really am sorry."

Harry pulled the pendent off from around Ginny's neck and hurried out of the room.

---

Harry took a deep breath as he stood outside the door of Snape's office. Harry was still a bit surprised with himself at what he had just done. He had petrified two of his friends, granted the spell only lasted an hour at most, but he still felt bad.

Harry knocked on the door, there was no answer. What if Snape had class? Harry waited. He was about to knock again when the door suddenly opened and the pale face of Snape appeared in the crack.

"Potter," Snape sneered. "What do you want, I am busy." Snape's cold eyes glared down at Harry.

"I need Iturss serum," Harry said flatly. He had not intention of explaining himself to Snape. The sneer on Snape's lip became more pronounced.

"Iturss serum Potter? Why?" Snape hissed.

"That's none of your business." Harry hissed back.

"Watch your tone Potter," Snape retorted, "Iturss serum it is extremely hard to make and very dangerous if not used correctly. I am not accustomed to handing it out to any student that wants some."

Harry knew that Snape would be like this.

"But your going to give me some," Harry said his eyes narrowing as he reached into his pocket and pulled the white bone charm on the silver chain out, to dangle it before Snape's eyes. "Or maybe I should tell Dumbledore what really happened to Hermione and who supplied the means." Snape's eyes narrowed.

"So it comes to blackmail, Potter?" Snape said darkly.

"Whatever it takes to save my friend," Harry said even more darkly.

Snape stepped back and pulled the door open the rest of the way so that Harry could come inside.

"Sit then, Potter," Snape said as he moved off into the rows of strange things in jars. Harry moved to the chair in front of Snape's desk but he did not sit. Snape's office had always given Harry an uneasy feeling and this time was no exception. The strange things that floating in the glass jars around the room always made Harry feel sick.

Snape returned with a vial in hand.

"Sit, Potter," Snape insisted nastily.

"No thanks, I wasn't planning on staying." Harry said. Snape stood behind his desk but did not hand the vial to Harry.

"Potter, do you know what this serum dose? Do you know how dangerous it is?" Snape said. "I have made the mistake once of thinking that a student could handle something so dangerous but apparently I was wrong. I will not fall into the same trap twice, Potter, if you want this serum you will drink it here and you will explain to me what you intend to do."

Harry took a deep breath his eyes never leaving Snape's face. He didn't have a choice.

"Alright," Harry said at last and he sat in the chair. "I think Hermione is trapped inside my head. When she used this charm," Harry held up the white bone charm, "to enter my mind she didn't make it out."

Snape's face remained emotionless.

"Even if that is so, Potter," Snape hissed. "It had been five days since Miss Granger entered your mind. Even if she is still alive she had been gone from her body too long. She won't be able to return to it."

"That's not entirely correct," Harry said. Snape seemed taken aback.

"Excuse me, Potter, but I have had a fair amount more experience in the field of dealing with the human mind than you have," Snape sneered.

"The reason that most people can't return to their bodies," Harry pressed on, "is that the body dies after only a few hours without the mind. I think however that Hermione in some small way did manage to return to her own body. That is why she is still alive in the hospital wing." Snape's lip pursed.

"The odds of such and occurrence are almost non existent," Snape said as he clutched the vial tighter in his hand. "And Miss Granger is no longer in the hospital wing, she had been moved to St. Mungos where the medical staff are trying to determine if she is dead or not." Harry felt alarmed by this bit of news.

"But she is alive," Harry pressed. "I can hear her inside my head." Snape watched Harry but didn't respond. "It's not unheard of people surviving ego entanglment, more than four cases of it have been documented in the last hundred years." Harry said matter-of-factly. "In one case a person was trapped in someone else's mind for more than twenty years and was returned to their own body." Snape eyed Harry.

"In that particular case, Potter," Snape said, "both subjects were in a coma for those twenty years." Snape paused. "Where did you read that, Potter."

"I didn't," Harry said. "I think Hermione must have and for some reason her thoughts keep coming through like they're my own." Snape nodded.

"That means that the ego borderline is weak but still existent." Snape said, he took a deep breath. "Against my better judgment," Snape held out the vial, Harry took it. The glass was cold to the touch and purple liquid inside appeared to be moving. "You may proceed, Potter. But I will be watching and if there is any sign of trouble," Snape held out another glass vial filled with orange liquid. "I will not hesitate to wake you." Harry nodded.

Harry couldn't recall if Iturss serum had ever been used for something like this but he was sure it was the only way. Harry uncorked the vial, a pungent smell reached his nostrils.

"Potter," Snape said. Harry halted the vial he was about to drink it. For a moment he thought Snape was about to wish him luck. "The charm, put it on." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled the charm out. He looked up at Snape confused. "It you locate Miss Granger it will be the only way to get her out of you mind." Harry nodded and pulled the charm around his neck. He hadn't thought far ahead.

Harry moved the vial back to his lips and downed it quickly, it had a taste like onions.

Harry waited, but nothing seemed to be happening, Snape was watching Harry from behind his desk. Then there was a tingling sensation starting in Harry's hand, he held it up to look at it. His palm had a dark spot upon it, even though the rest of his hand was well lit. It was as though he was holding the back of his hand up to a bright light.

Suddenly Harry felt like he was being sucked into his palm. The black shadow grew quickly and filled all of Harry's vision.

* * *

Authors Notes:

And now the moment you've all been waiting for the Authors Notes. Anyone who wasn't waiting for the authors notes can click the button on the bottom of the page and go to the next chapter, when I put it up.

I'm not going to name out names because I can't put everyone down and give them the space they deserve for a thank you but do know that I read every review and as much as you hunger for the next chapter I hunger for each review!

So to all reviewers "THANK YOU SO MUCH" for reviewing my work!

Readers you also get a "thank you so much" but no caps for you until you leave at least one review, then you can read the line above.

I also know, from reviews and well because I put them there, that a lot of unanswered questions exist, though his isn't intended to be a mystery some facts need to remain in the area of gray or else there wouldn't be a story. I will assure you everything has its place and all questions (at least that I am aware exist) will be answered by the end of the story (as I do not intend to write a book 7… for the moment).

I will be trying to pick up the pace a little so that I can finish before July 16th because, well then my story sort of become AU (alternate universe for anyone who was wondering). Also because I will most likely get the book the night its released, like everyone here, and after reading it will be influenced by events in its pages.

So to end this ramble, chapters coming fasters… I hope.


	16. – The Shadow of Tom Riddle

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil 

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 16 – The Shadow of Tom Riddle 

Harry opened his eyes. He was standing on top of his bed in his dorm room. The walls all curve up towards the high ceiling above. The room looked very odd but it was still familiar. Ron and Neville were sitting on Ron's bed, the two of them where playing wizard chess. Harry walked over to watch.

The figures on the chess board weren't the normal wizard chess pieces instead they were all little Hermiones, dressed in different costumes. Harry took a step away, this was really strange.

"Knight to," Neville counted the tiles on the board, "D9." Neville announced. The knight moved on its own to the space Neville had announced. From the looks of it Neville was wining. "Check!" Neville cried.

Ron rubbed his face, he looked tired. Harry had never seen him losing this badly before. Harry looked over the board. He could see a couple okay moves but nothing that looked like it would very much help Ron.

Ron moved his hand over his Queen, he was going to try and take out the knight! Harry could see it was a bad move, that it was a needless sacrifice.

"Wait," Harry said. Ron stopped and looked up at Harry. "You can stop the night with your castle," Harry said pointing to the castle hidden across the board. Ron looked around at the pieces as though seeing them for the first time.

"Oy," Ron cried, the tiredness leaving his face. Ron moved his castle to take the knight and Neville countered by taking the castle with a nearby pawn.

"Thanks Harry," Ron said. "I don't know what I was thinking! I think I've got it from here." Harry nodded. Suddenly Neville took hold of the chess board and tossed it to the floor.

"That's cheating!" Neville said angrily. "You aren't supposed to help him!" Ron didn't seem to notice anything that had just happened, instead he continued to gaze at where the chess board had been.

"Five moves and I have you," Ron murmured to himself. Neville stormed away towards the door.

"I'll catch you later mate," Harry said waving at Ron as he followed Neville. Ron didn't seem to hear him as he continued to watch the empty space.

Neville moved through the door and closed it behind him. Harry was only a few steps behind Neville but when Harry opened the door, Neville not on the other side.

Instead Harry found himself at the start of a long hallway. There was door along the wall not far from the one Harry had just come out of, on it hung a sign that read, 'out of order.' Harry pushed open the door and almost did a double take.

The room beyond wasn't a room at all. There was no floor, no walls, no ceiling. It was a void that moved out forever. Bright red stars filled the spot between the empty black. Scatted about through the void were hundreds of people all casting spells. Harry could faintly hear shouts of, '_imobullus'_ and '_repairo'_ coming from the people all around the void.

Harry stepped back and closed the door. He decided he would instead try his luck with the hallway.

Harry moved down the stone passage. On the walls were paintings. Some Harry recognized as his own memories, others he didn't know at all.

Something odd was happening to the passageway as Harry walked down it, the walls were twisting the floor was becoming the ceiling. Harry thought he would fall but he stayed on the floor as it twisted. It didn't feel like he was upside-down at all. In fact it felt as if nothing had changed. Harry looked behind him to see the twisted walls of the ceiling becoming floor. He didn't have time to worry about things like this. He had to focus, had to find Hermione and get out of here quickly.

The headache was becoming more painful, even in here Harry's head pounded hard. He knew, though he did not know how he knew, that things were becoming worse. That if he did not find Hermione and return her to her own body she would not survive much longer.

Ahead of him there were noises echoing off the walls, like the sounds of stone scraping against stone. Harry moved faster. Someone was kneeling facing a large hole in the wall.

It was Hermione she was lifting a small gray brick into place. Harry stopped next to her, she didn't seem to have noticed his arrival.

"Hermione!" Harry said, relief in his voice, "Come on we have to get you out of here." Hermione didn't respond, instead, using her wand, she created another brick and began lift it into place.

"Hermione?" Harry asked concerned. She didn't seem to hear him. Harry put his hand out to touch her shoulder but before he could touch her, he felt a burning sensation in his hand, he pulled back. The burning faded.

How was he supposed to get her out of here if she couldn't hear him and he couldn't touch her? Harry shook his hand as the last of the burning felling moved out his fingertips.

Harry looked past Hermione and out the hole in the wall that she was repairing. If had thought the last room had been strange it was no comparison to what lay beyond the hole in the wall. The Burrow sat, fully intact, in a field of green grass. Beyond the Burrow were holes in the sky. There were more people outside standing upon scaffolding repairing the holes as if they were nothing more than a damaged building. Through the holes Harry could see parts of the back void but it was not filled with starts it was filled with large moving images.

Harry took a step back, was that the way he was supposed to go? He didn't think he could fit through the small hole in the wall. Harry was about to try and see if he could would fit when off to his left there was a click.

Harry turned and drew his wand. A dark wooden door had swung open. Harry moved over to it. The room beyond seemed to be the only normal thing so far. It was a sitting room of some kind but Harry couldn't recall having ever been in it.

Harry took a deep breath and stepped into the room beyond.

---

The moment Harry stepped into the room he knew he had made a mistake. He felt his skin begin to burn. His scar erupted in agony. Harry turned to retreat through the door but it swung suddenly closed.

Harry dropped to his knees. He had felt pain before, horrible pain, but this was far worse than anything he had ever had to endure. Harry fell on his side his body twitching as the daggers of fire cut away slowly at his body.

"STOP IT!" Cried a voice from somewhere behind Harry. "STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

The pain dimmed but it did not fade. Harry's scar still burned on his head. Harry's hands were shaking as he pushed himself up from the ground. Harry looked to where the voice had come from and saw, to his surprise, Hermione standing next to one of the couches.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Said a voice that Harry didn't recognize. "Are you okay?" Harry felt a hand take his to help him stand. Harry looked up at the face of the young boy whom he did not recognize.

"I thought you…" the boy looked frightened and Harry was reminded suddenly of Dobby. "I thought you were someone else!" The boy said timidly.

"Hermione," Harry asked as he got to his feet, "What's going on, how did you get in here so fast?" Hermione raised an eye brow as if to ask what Harry was talking about.

"Oh," Hermione said suddenly as if only just remembering, "well I'm also outside aren't I. I mean…"

Harry shook his head.

"You know what, I really don't want to know." Harry said. "We don't have a lot of time we have to get you out of here." Hermione took a deep breath.

"Harry, I've discovered someone important, someone you need to meet." Hermione said. Harry nodded.

"Fine, once we get out of here you can tell me all about it," Harry was starting feel annoyed. Didn't Hermione understand that the longer they stayed the more danger they both were in?

"Harry, meet Tom Riddle," Hermione said indicating the small boy that had helped Harry up. Harry felt suddenly panicked. TOM RIDDLE? But, it couldn't be. This boy was no more than ten or eleven years old. As Harry looked at him he could slowly begin to see the resemblance between this boy and the sixteen year old Tom Riddle that Harry had encountered in the diary and again in the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry looked over at Hermione, he felt panic rising in his chest.

"What…" Harry started but couldn't seem to find any words to follow after that.

"It's sort of hard to explain exactly what happened," Hermione said. "Well… no it's not hard to explain, perhaps hard to understand or to believe might be a better…"

"Hermione," Harry said stepping past the boy who was watching them. "We don't have time for this." Hermione looked surprised.

"Why not?" Hermione asked. Harry opened his mouth but came out with a lack of words, he wasn't sure he even had a clue what was really going on. He just knew they were running out of time, he could feel it.

"Just trust me, we have to go, now!" Harry said taking Hermione's wrist.

"But we can't leave yet!" Hermione protested as Harry tried to pull her towards the door. Hermione snapped her wrist free from Harry's grip.

"He is coming…" said a small voice cutting apart the argument between Hermione and Harry. Hermione's eyes went wider.

"What, who's coming?" Harry asked turning to look at the little boy but the young Tom did not appear to hear Harry. The pupils in his eyes had turned white and his face was expressionless.

"I knew it!" Hermione said, Harry looked at her. "Harry quickly, we have to get out the door!" Without warning Hermione grabbed Harry's wrist and with surprising force she pulled him across the room.

There were almost past Tom when his shadow, which had been only a small circle on the floor suddenly cut out along the ground and raced up the wall. Hermione came to a dead stop, Harry collided with her back.

The shadow reached the ceiling and began to spread along the walls.

"I don't think you will be going," said a deep rumbling voice that shook the room. Red glowing eyes opened upon the shadows head. One of the arms pulled free from the wall and took form becoming claw like.

Harry reacted, the path to the door was still clear, but Harry knew it wouldn't remain that way for long. Harry took Hermione's arm and pulled her behind him as they rushed headlong at the door. There wasn't time to open it, Harry just had to hope it was not as solid as it looked. At full speed Harry collided with the dark wooden door and it broke away as if it was made of paper.

The two students tumbled out onto the grass on the other side. Harry looked around. The hallway that he had been expecting was not here. They were outside some place, not far from what looked like the forbidden forest. It was night time and clouds show silver in the dark sky. The grass was illuminated by the twinkling stars and the glow of the moon.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked looking over at Hermione who was laying on her back next to him. The moon light shinned against her body with its soft glow. Harry was transfixed with her image. Hermione suddenly sat up.

"Harry, the tree, we have to lock it!" Hermione shouted as she pointed a finger back the way they had tumbled from. At first Harry wasn't sure what Hermione was talking about but as Harry looked to where Hermione was pointing he suddenly realized where he was. They were at the base of the Whomping Willow.

From a hole near the roots of the tree glowing red eyes appeared. A tendril like hand moved its way out onto the grass. There was a growl from next to Harry and the beautify girl he had been staring at a moment ago had vanished to be replaced by a brown furred, tiger-like, cat. Without waiting for Harry the cat covered the distance to the tree its claws striking at the shadow monster.

The branched of the tree remained motionless. Why had the tree not struck as she approached.

"Talon! Help me!" came Hermione's voice from the tiger as it battled with the shadow. Harry didn't even have to think about it, he was Talon. The song of the Phoenix filled the air accompanied by the horrible wailing of the shadow monster.

Light illuminated the tree and the ground around it in red as Talon soared into the sky, then dove back down his talon's slashing at the face of the shadow monster. The eyes sank back into the hole at the base of the tree trying to escaped the attacks and the bright light.

Paw's morphed back into Hermione. She pulled a shinning white key from her robes and pushed it against the knot at the base of the tree. The branches began to move and whip around wildly. Talon flapped his wings, moving to avoid the on coming attack. But Hermione was trapped as the branches lashed down around her.

Talon circled out around the tree. A branch lashed out at him, Talon rolled narrowly avoiding it. The branches came faster each time almost hitting Talon as he maneuvered to avoid being hit by them as he moved with lighting speed towards Hermione.

Finally his talon's closed on her shoulders, there was a burst of flame and they were high in the sky above the castle, the tree far below them.

---

Talon set Hermione down gently on one of the turrets of the castle and released her from his grip from her shoulders. Taking wing he landing a few feet away before transforming back into Harry. Hermione rushed him and wrapped her arms around him crushing his body to hers.

Harry was about to protest but he never got the chance, Hermione's lips were pressed hard against his. Harry took her shoulders and pulled her away. Hermione looked at him, her eye's pleading.

"Hermione," Harry said out of breath. "We can't… I mean we don't have time… I mean… not…" Hermione's lip was starting to tremble.

"We have to get out of here!" Harry said shaking her slightly. "You know a lot more about this stuff than I do, how do we get out of here!" It was moment before Hermione answered.

"You mean you don't want to be here with me?" She asked her eye's not leaving his face. The glow of the moon upon her was intoxicating. This seemed more like a dream than reality. And like a hand had slapped him in the back of the head he realized that it was a dream and not reality.

"You're trapped inside my mind," Harry said holding her tightly and trying to make her understand with his eyes that right now this was more important. "I know, because you know, that if you stay here for much longer you won't be able to get out!"

There were tears rolling down Hermione's face.

"Please," Harry begged, "how do I get you back to your body?" Hermione closed her eyes.

"You can't," she said, her voice chocked. "It's already too late." Harry let go. He couldn't believe it, he would believe it. Harry took a step away. Hermione looked different, the moon light glowed through her, she was becoming transparent. Hermione opened her eyes to look down at her hands. Her face was filled with sadness as she looked up at Harry.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said. A forceful wind rushed across the top of the castle turret. Harry held his arm up to block the wind. He felt tears burning across his face. The wind pushed him slowly away from Hermione. Her feet lifted from the ground and she began to rise into the air.

"No," Harry growled. "I won't let it be this way." Harry threw his arm against the wind as though trying to push it out of the way. The air rushed against his skin trying to drag him back. Harry dug his feet into the stone and fought towards Hermione.

Hermione was more than her height above the ground, if not for the glow of the moon Harry would not have been able to see her transparent form. Harry's hand shot into the air, the tip of his finger brushed against her foot but he could not reach her to pull her down. Harry jumped trying to take hold but she moved just far enough for his hand to grab only air.

"I've come too far to lose you like this!" Harry shouted. His fist wrapped around something invisible that dangled from his neck. With all his might Harry leapt into the air. Hermione was far above him but Harry knew he could make the impossible jump.

His hand clasped around her ankle. Harry took hold as they rose into the sky.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted. "You have to stop!" Her head was turned up looking into the stars in the sky, she did not seem to hear him. Harry was losing his grip, he felt his hands slipping.  
Harry's fingers came free, he lost his grip and began to tumble backwards into the air.

This couldn't be happening, he had been so close. Harry's body turned about in the air as he fell the hundreds of feet towards the stone turret rushing up at him. Harry collided with it but the stones did not stop him, his body tore through the stone and pulled it apart like fabric.

Below was the sky and below that the castle Harry had just crashed into. He was still falling. He spotter Hermione she was rising quickly up at him in a moment he would pass her and fall through the hole again.

The moonlight was causing her to glow and she looked almost like a ghost.

'But she isn't dead!' Harry told himself as he sped towards her. 'And I will make sure of that!' Harry reached out for her as he rushed past. For one perfect second it was like time had stopped. Hermione's eyes were closed and Harry couldn't recall her ever looking more beautiful than she did now. But she was little more than a faint silver outline, like a wisp of smoke. The second ended and Harry rushed past her again.

This was torture, he was destine to fall past her, over and over until the instant she vanished, unable to save her! If only he had his broom, then he could fly up and save her!

But he could fly! He did have wings! Harry willed himself to become Talon, to fly. What happened next was something Harry was not prepared for. Four white wings sprung from his back, just like the ones Solaris had.

They flapped like arms and Harry slowed in the air. His direction changed and he rushed back towards Hermione as she rushed away from him. He could barley see her any more. See was almost completely transparent.

Harry came level with her. He was only inches away, he put his wing around her pulling her ghostly form against his. Harry felt his fingers press down on the invisible object around his neck. There was a warm glow and a bright flash of light.

For a moment Harry thought they had floated up into Snape's office but this had a much different feeling from the place he had just been, it was too real. Harry was still holding Hermione in his arms unwilling to let her go for fear she would vanish. Harry held her tightly in his arms. His wings had vanished and he was unsure how he could still be flying.

"Potter," Snape hissed. Harry looked down to find Snape hunched over below him. He wasn't looking up at Harry but rather he was talking to a Harry sitting in a chair below Harry.

Harry blinked not sure what he was looking at. Had something gone wrong, were they both dead now?

"Release the connector!" Snape said there was urgency in his voice. Harry's body reacted on its own, his hand slowly lifted and his eyes moved to his thumb and forefinger that were press together. Harry pulled the fingers apart. For a moment they felt as if they had been glued together.

Hermione suddenly zoomed out of his arms, Harry tried to reach for her but she was already gone. Harry felt like a stone and he dropped down falling out of the air and on top of himself.

Harry's eye's snapped open. Snape was very close to his face.

"Did it work, Potter?" Snape asked his sharp eyes searching Harry's face.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I found her and we fought back this big black shadow monster," Harry was trying to recall all the events but the details were becoming fuzzy. "And then we were in your office and Hermione, she was pulled away!"

Snape took a long breath. His face relaxed and he pushed away from Harry.

"I didn't think you would be able to do it, Potter," Snape said. The headache that had been plaguing Harry was gone. The pain in his scar had also vanished. "We have done all we can. The magic of the connector should pull Miss Granger back to her own body." Snape suddenly whirled on Harry.

"Potter," Snape said his face coming uncomfortably close. "If any of this is ever uttered outside my office…" Snape snatched the charm around Harry's neck and yanked it free breaking the silver chain. "Now get out."

---

Harry hurried quickly to the room he had left Ron and Ginny in. He couldn't believe that he had petrified his friends. Harry didn't even know where to being or how to apologize to them. What had come over him?

But Harry found the classroom empty. For a moment Harry felt panicked. But looking at the clock on the wall he realized that he had been gone for over two hours.

It was almost dinner time now, maybe they were in the great hall. Quickly Harry turned and headed for the great hall.

Clusters of students were arriving for dinner. Harry pushed his way between them trying to get into the great hall. What was the next step to take after finding Ginny and Ron? Apologize to them? No, Harry decided, they would understand he'd done what had to be done. They had to find a way to get to St. Mungos Hospital. Perhaps by Thestral?

"Mr. Potter," chimed a voice from the doors as Harry appeared in a gap at the front of the crowd of students. It was professor McGonagall.

"Sorry Professor," Harry said as the student next to him let out a cry of protest as Harry pushed his way past.

"A word Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. For an instant Harry thought of blowing her off. He had more important matters to attend to than being lectured on pushing his way past some people. Harry was about to protest but something about the look on Professor McGonagall's face told Harry that this was about something else.

Harry followed as McGonagall lead the way along the wall avoiding most of the students. She lowered her voice.

"I have just received word from St. Mungos that there has been a change in the condition of Miss Granger," McGonagall said. Harry didn't know what to think, it had to be good news, it had to be that she was okay didn't it?

"Is Hermione alright, is everything okay?" Harry said his voice chocked.

"Calm down Mr. Potter." McGonagall said. "Head Healer Eifled has sent word that she has awoken from her strange condition. They have requested she remain at St. Mungos for the remainder of the weekend but that for the moment she appears to be quite alright." Harry felt incredibly relieved. "Oh and Mr. Potter, Madam Pomfrey has also informed me that she will be returning tomorrow and that she would like you to return to the hospital ward for observation."

"Uh, okay," Harry said.

"Well," McGonagall said her voice returning to normal volume, "off you go Potter."

---

Harry spotted Ron and Ginny sitting in their normal places at the Gryffindor table. For a moment he considered sitting some place else but he wanted to tell them Hermione was alright.

Ron spotted him as Harry moved up behind Ginny. He looked non to pleased to see Harry. Ginny turned and nearly leapt from the table to embrace Harry. Harry hugged her back, he was glad to see her, glad she was okay. Ron gave a cough.

Ginny pulled back and gave her brother a fierce look. But Harry could see part of the reason Ron had found to interrupt, many people around them were staring at them. Harry let go of Ginny and sat down next to her.

"Hermione's okay," Harry said. Ginny looked relieved and even Ron's face softened but he still looked angry. "Look Ron, Ginny, I'm really sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay, I've already explained to Ron that you did what you did because it wasn't really you doing it," Ginny said. Harry glanced at her in surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to hear. Ron still looked angry. "And Ron just hasn't gotten over it."

"Look mate," Harry said apologetically. "I really am sorry! It worked, Hermione is fine and no one got expelled." Ron pushed his plate away angrily and stood up. Without a word he left the great hall.

Harry watched him all the way to the door. Sometimes Ron was thicker than block of wood and now was no exception. Harry wondered how long he would have to put up with Ron's bad temper.

"Ignore him," Ginny said into Harry's ear. "He isn't really mad at you." Harry knew Ron well enough to know that but it still hurt him. The rest of dinner was quiet and by the end Harry was ready to head to his room and crawl into bed but Ginny stopped him.

"Tonight is the DA meeting, remember?" Ginny said. Harry had completely forgotten, to him it was still Tuesday. Harry nodded and together they headed for the room of requirement.

They were almost there when Ron waved them down.

"Hey, Harry wait up," Ron said. He looked different, he wasn't mad anymore but it was something beyond that.

"You okay mate?" Harry asked. Ron looked uneasy for a moment.

"Fine," Ron said shrugging. This was the last thing Harry had been expecting. He hadn't expected Ron to recover so quickly from how he had been less then thirty minutes ago in the great hall. "I just needed a walk to cool my head." Harry looked at Ginny, she gave him a small shrug. She didn't know what had cause the change in Ron's attitude either.

"Well come on then mate," Harry said patting Ron on the shoulder. "We have a meeting to run." Ron looked uneasily at Harry's hand for a moment. Harry thought that he was about to start shouting again but he smiled back and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Right…uh mate," Ron replied.

"Are you sure you're alright Ron?" Ginny asked. Her eyes were narrowed.

"Yeah I just… just have a lot on my mind." Ron said uneasily. Now that Ron said it Harry could see what had been wrong. He had forgotten how much Ron hated speaking in front of people and tonight he had a big speech. Harry hopped Ron had found time to work on it during the week, they had only talked about the basics last weekend and without his or Hermione's help Harry wasn't sure if Ron would have been able to complete his task.

"Come on," Harry said. "We have to go set up." Harry led the way to the room of requirement. It was still as it had been last time they were there. Ginny and Ron began moving cushions out to prepare for students.

Tonight would be the full introduction of the idea of warlocks to the group. They had touched upon it last meeting but this meeting would be the first steps and some training. Admittedly Harry hadn't had time to get all he had hopped to have ready for tonight, he would just have to wing it.

Students began to arrive and take their seats. Ginny was watching the door and Ron was sitting in his chair his hands clenched against his legs. He looked very nervous. Harry thought about going over to him to give him some words of support but his attention was on all the new faces he was seeing.

Harry couldn't believe how many more people there were here tonight. Last time there had been about thirty students but tonight he counted more than a hundred. The room didn't seem big enough to hold all the members but the crowed packed in.

The last of the members arrived and Ginny locked the door then struggled her way through the crowed.

Faces stared up at Harry. He recognized many of them but at the same time had never seen many. All but Slytherin house appeared to be in attendance tonight. Hermione's words nagged in the back of Harry's head. There had been plans to meet with a group of nine Slytherins looking to join, but that had been on Wednesday and neither Harry nor Hermione had been awake to go meet them.

Harry stirred up his courage. He already knew the words he had to say for this part. He just wished he'd had more time to practice them.

"Welcome, returning members, and prospective new members," Harry began. "Before we get started there are…" but what there was the members would never hear. A loud knocking came from the door to the room.

---

Harry's voice trailed off. Quickly he signaled Ron and Ginny to take up points of attack. They had practiced this before. Other members of the DA stood and drew wands aiming at the door. Perhaps it was just a late comer. Harry moved through the crowed cautiously. If it was a teacher Harry had no idea what to do.

Harry took hold of the handle. His wand was ready in his hand. Harry opened the door and found, to his shock a group of Slytherin students at the door. And standing in front of them was a moderately unhappy Ron.

"Hey Harry," Ron said. "Sorry I'm late, we had to wait for one of the Slytherins who was… What's wrong? Don't tell me you're still mad at me about dinner?" Harry pulled his head back inside. Ron standing against the far wall his wand out. Harry looked back out the door at Ron.

'What the fuck?' Was all Harry's brain could shout. Harry looked over at Ginny. She couldn't see what was happening outside the door but a few of the students behind Harry could and whispers were starting to fill the air as heads turned about.

Harry motioned for Ron to come in. Ron seemed taken aback to say the least when he spotted himself standing on the far wall, pale and starting to look nervous.

"Quick, Ron," Harry said in a whisper to the Ron that had just come in. "What's Ginny's middle name?" Ron looked taken aback for a moment. Harry pointed his wand at Ron's chest.

"It's Molly, like my mom," Ron said in protest. "Blimey Harry what's going on?" Harry turned to face the other Ron.

"We have a spy," Harry said.

"MAXIMUS EXUXUS!" Fire erupted from the tip of the wand of the Ron standing against the wall. The ball of fire rolled across screaming students towards Harry. Harry threw his hands wide and the ball of fire vanished as it impacted with a shield of light. When the shield vanished devastation remained. Many students were badly injured some might even be dead. And the fake Ron had vanished.

"We have to get them to the hospital wing!" Ginny cried as she moved up next to Harry. Other students were screaming and shouting.

"Quiet everyone!" Harry shouted over the screams. The room did not become silent. Some of the students were fighting to get to the door. Harry didn't have time for this. They wouldn't be able to get all these injured students to the hospital wing in time and even if they did, Madam Pomfrey was not there to help any of them.

Harry could see no other choice. Without thinking Harry began to change, to become Talon. There was a burst of flame and Talon appeared above the wounded students. The cries of pain still came from the injured but almost all of the rest of the room became silent as they watched the phoenix.

Talon looked at the devastation. Black charred skin met his eyes from almost every direction. Hair and clothing had been burned off and some students lay still and motionless. Others cradled blackened flesh with bloody hands. There was no need to force his tears because Talon cried for the horrible sight before him.

Doing his best through blurred vision Talon moved from student to student letting his tear drops fall on their burns and split skin. A few of the student's wounds however did not heal. When at last Talon had no more tears to cry he became Harry again and moved among the students. He had been able to save many of them but some he was not sure about.

The rest of the students had been moved back by DA members to give room. Neville and a few other students had moved in and were using simple healing spells to treat the wounded.

Harry moved over to Neville. He was over a small boy who looked as though he might be in his first-year. He had blond hair and his face was pale. Neville had his hands wrapped against his neck.

For a moment Harry felt as though he had wittiness all this before. It was a strange felling. The moment passed.

"How is he?" Harry asked uneasily, the boy wasn't moving.

"He didn't make it," Neville said pulling his hands free, Harry could see blood on Neville's palms. "I did all I could but…" Harry put a hand on Neville's shoulder. This was horrible a student had been murdered and it was Harry's fault. The DA was finished, Harry would not be able to avoid expulsion this time. He would take all the blame, it was his club he was responsible.

Harry rubbed his face, he felt very old and very tired. This had been the second person he had watched die.

"It's not your fault Neville." Harry said. "It's mine, I should have known better, I should have been more careful." Harry looked around the room. What he was about to say next felt impossible to say. They had only just started and already they had failed. "The DA is…"

"Wait," Neville said. He was holding the boy's wrist. Harry looked down, his heart was pounding. "He's… he's alive!" Neville said. "It worked." Neville was smiling but he looked very tired. Harry noticed a red tear rolling down Neville check. Harry knelt quickly next to him.

"Neville," Harry said concerned. "Are you alright?" Neville looked like he was short of breath. Harry put his hand against Neville's chest. Neville's heart beat was uneven and his breathing was ragged.

"I'm okay," Neville said taking Harry's grip in a strong hold. Neville's breath started to even out. And as it did the boy laying on the ground gasped for air and then continued to breath steadily. When Neville released Harry's wrist there was blood left behind.

"Blood healing," Neville said. Harry had never heard of that before which wasn't surprising, healing, besides perhaps Arithmancy, was a field Harry knew almost nothing about. But from the way Neville looked Harry didn't liked the sound of the spell.

"Neville, you didn't!" Ginny cried. She was among the students that had pressed in to watch the scene.

"Neville," Harry asked, "what exactly did you do?" Neville looked Harry in the eyes.

"I gave up some of my life to heal," Neville said, "two years of my life to give this boy the chance to live out the rest of his. I just need some rest and I'll be fine." Harry helped Neville to his feet and found him a cushion in the back of the room where he set his friend down to rest. "Thanks," Neville said sitting down heavily.

"No, tonight Neville it is everyone here who owes you thanks." Harry said. Neville nodded and closed his eyes, leaning against the wall to sleep.

Harry stood and turned to the rest of the room. His point had been made for him in far more detail than he would have wished but he now had to say it. Harry looked around at many of the students that had been injured. He felt something stir within him. He wasn't sure who it had been that had done this but Harry would find out.

"What I am about to say might sound harsh after the events we have just witnessed," Harry said, the room was quiet, everyone was listening to him, "the DA is not a joke, not a club. The danger is very real and the possibility of death is very real. But it is your choice. You have seen what we fight against, enemies that strike to kill with no regards for anyone. If we do nothing they will kill us. But if we fight, we can win. Action does save lives.

"Tonight, we have seen true heroism. Neville has give part of his own life to save another. Those of you that feel you would do anything but the same should not stay. We are not just another club, we are an army. And we will stand against Voldemort and we will fight!

"Those of you that accept this and want to fight, those of you that will not go silently into night, those of you that will stand with me, stand and be recognized." Harry was breathing hard. The words had come to him as he spoke. His voice had been strong and he had not been afraid to speak them. He had led the class as a teacher before but this was a different feeling it was a feeling that felt natural.

To Harry's surprise every student moved to stand, even those that still had injuries. Harry felt pride well up in his chest.

"The journey will not be easy. Our enemies reach has no bounds," Harry continued speaking no longer to frightened students but to soldiers. "But we will train hard, and when the time comes we will be ready to fight and to win." Harry held his hand out to the seats. "Sit and we will show you a way to a future without evil."

* * *

Authors Notes: 

And you have completed chapter… hey what chapter am I on?... One second let me look through my checklist and figure out where the heck I am.

Avalon… check

Return to Hogwarts… Check

Love interest in -strINstream error: name not retrievable- … check

Lots of Unanswered questions…check

Evil Shadow with glowing red eyes…check

Crazy trip through Harry's mind…check and check again

Attack on the DA…check

Harry potter takes over the world and names it Ted…chec… hey what the fuck… how did that get on my list? Damn it Alex stop writing in plot points!

Yes that's correct reader you have finished chapter 16 of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil. The list above isn't even close to everything that's happened so far so anyone skipping ahead to this chapter, though I have no clue as to why you would, go back and read the others before finishing this one, if you haven't, because there are a lot of important things! Of course since you're reading the authors notes at the end I will assume that you already read this chapter, in which case, if you haven't read the previous chapters, unread this chapter and go back and read the ones before it!

There, now that I have thoroughly confused everyone with my ramblings I am free to begin work on my next book 'Harry Potter and His Evil Twin, Ted!' Err well no… not really…

I'll just go back to working on the next couple of chapters instead. But first!

REVIEWERS THANK YOU!

READERS thank you! (readers, you know the drill no reading the line above until you leave at least one review, and believe me I will know, Santa works for me)

I am working at full steam to get the next chapter out as quickly as possible. Wednesday looks like the date but I make no blood oaths!


	17. – Broken

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 17 – Broken

Breakfast Saturday morning was pleasant. The rest of the DA lesson had gone very well despite everything that had happened at the start. Harry had been worried that the students might not put their hearts into the training or even want to end the lesson early because of the attack. But if anything the attack had made everyone work harder than Harry would have thought possible.

The meeting had gone on much latter than Harry had planed and it was only because Ginny noticed how late it was, that everyone had been able to make it back to their dormitories with a few extra seconds to spare before lights-out.

The returning members had preformed far beyond expectations, obviously many of them had been practicing over the summer. The new students, for which there were many, were not bad at all. The mere fact that they had stayed after an attack that had almost cost some of them their lives was proof enough that they would do whatever it took to win.

Many were able to master the first set of spells Ron had prepared, another surprise for Harry. He had to admit that he was impressed with Ron. Never had he thought that Ron would've been able to do the things he had.

But even though Harry was impressed he was also feeling paranoid now. It didn't seem like Ron at all. The Ron he was sure he knew would never have done all those things on his own. Harry had been deceived once by an imposter, he vowed never to let it happen again, too much was at stake.

Another big surprise was the Slytherin students, far from being arrogant or cruel, much what Harry had come to expect from them, they were just like any of the other students. They had done very well in the lesson and not a single member gave any argument about Slytherins being part of the DA.

Ron had explained to Harry, after the meeting, that Hermione had set up the plans to meet with the Slytherins during the week but since she and Harry had not been able to go Ron had gone in their place. Hermione had convinced him that having allies in Slyhterin house was too important to pass up. And Ron had agreed, in the end, that, at least from a strategic stand point, allies among enemies were the best kind of allies.

The DA had many enemies, of that Harry was certain. Though there could be many people who might have attacked the DA that night Harry knew the attacker must be Malfoy.

The fake Ron had vanished instantly after the attack, just like Malfoy always did. And like all the other attacks Malfoy had been spotted some place else at the time of the attack, Harry's new Slytherin allies had been able to confirm that.

However there was one striking difference between this attack and every attack before it. Everyone in the room had seen the attacker. So far only Hermione had been able see any attacker.

At the moment Ginny was leaning against Harry's arm eating a piece of toast. Her soft chewing broke Harry's train of thought or rather turned his thoughts towards something else. Hermione. Harry hadn't been able to get her off his mind even though he had been able to get her out of it.

Everything around him, even Ginny, seemed to remind Harry of her absence. Harry was starting to feel uncomfortable with his thoughts. He really was starting to have feelings for Ginny. She had proven herself time and time again to be more than just a loyal friend and Harry was also feeling other things he couldn't really explain, things that frightened and excited him.

Desperate to talk about anything that would draw his thoughts to something else Harry struck up conversation with Ron.

"So," Harry said looking at Ron. "Any plans today mate?" Ron swallowed whatever he had just shoveled into his mouth.

"Oy Harry!" Ron said shaking his head, "Today we have try outs for chasers remember?" Harry felt surprised, how had he forgotten! That was right, today was Saturday. "Ginny put up postings on the notice board in the tower. We're going to start some time after lunch."

"Great thinking Ron," Harry commented. Ginny looked up at Harry her mouth screwed up in an angry sort of frown. "and Uh… Gin." Harry added quickly and then kissed her on the forehead apologetically. "Sorry, I guess I'm still tired. I really do wish you'd gotten captain instead of me mate."

Ron smiled weakly, obviously it was still a painful subject for him to be reminded of. The rest of breakfast past fairly quickly. There were other things that Harry had wanted to talk about, like Hermione and the DA. But he found that every time he started thinking about them the last thing he wanted to do was talk about them.

---

A lot of students had shown up at the Quidditch field for the Gryffindor tryouts. The rest of Harry's team had also arrived. Ron had set up the testing plan. Since all they needed were chasers they were going to put students in groups of three and see if they had some of the basic skills to play.

Ginny and the rest of the team were helping group out the students. Harry, suddenly realized he had missed something, something he couldn't understand how, until now, he hadn't spotted. They didn't need three chasers they only needed two. Harry pointed this out to Ron. Ron gave Harry a uneasy sideways glance.

"Well we already have everything else," Harry said. "You're keeper. We have two beaters, who could be better, and I am seeker and I guess Ginny's a chaser." Ron frowned. "What?"

"Well," Ron said, "I thought you and Ginny were going to trade off being seeker." Harry felt confusion on his face, was Ron serious, trade off being seeker? "I mean, since you hadn't said anything I just kind of assumed that was what you wanted. It's what I would have done if I was captain."

Harry was starting to feel an uncomfortable knot in his stomach. How had he let it get this far and not have said anything. He knew he had been busy but that wasn't an excuse. He had to tell Ginny that this year she would be a chaser instead of seeker. Otherwise they would end up with an extra player on the team.

"Hold up everyone," Harry said raising his hands into the air. Chatter stopped among the prospective new chasers. "Team huddle, over here."

The rest of the team returned over to Ron and Harry, they were looking at them with uncertainty.

"It seems we've sort of miss counted. We only need two chasers this year." Harry said. Ginny looked at the two beaters standing next to her, then at Ron and finally at Harry.

"Well of course," Ginny said at last. Harry felt relieved this wasn't going to be as bad as he had first thought. "I mean, I already assumed you were going to take our third chaser spot Harry."

For a moment Harry stood stupid, that hadn't been what he'd been expecting at all.

"Uh, no," Harry said. "Actually I was thinking you were going to take a chaser spot and I was going to return to seeker." If Harry had been expecting Ginny to accept this pronouncement with no protest he was sorely mistaken.

"Excuse me?" Ginny said putting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes. "And why would you think that, we already have a seeker, and you've already had a turn!"

"Well," Ron said breaking in, "Harry is a better seeker." If she could have, Harry was sure that Ginny would have shot fire from her mouth at her brother.

"Are you saying that I can't play seeker?" Ginny said angrily.

"No, no!" Ron cried now looking panicked. "I just mean that… uh Harry… uh is… um a better… a better seeker...Ginny." Ginny whirled on Harry like it had been him who had called her lousy.

"That isn't fair!" Ginny said poking Harry hard in the chest with her finger, "I'm just as good as you are! We won last year and we can win again this year with me as seeker!" That wasn't quite as Harry remembered it, true Ginny was good but she wasn't '_just as good_' as Harry was.

"But Ginny," Harry said. "I really am better than you." It was quickly apparent that this was the worst thing Harry could have said. Ginny's face became red and her hands tightened hard on her broom, so much so that for a moment Harry was sure she was going to snap it.

"So it's Ginny now…" Ginny said calmly. Harry wasn't sure what had just happened but he knew he had done something horribly wrong.

"Look," Harry said in protest, "I'm sorry but that's how I think we should play it and I'm the team captain, it's my call."

"You mean its Ron's call," Ginny said in the same unnervingly calm voice. "He's really running the team because you don't care." There were tears on Ginny's face now.

"That's not true!" Harry said but even as he said the words he knew they were a lie. He did care about Quidditch and about playing but he really didn't want to manage the team at all. He had just assumed Ron would do that part.

Ginny looked up at Harry. Her face was bright red.

"I'll fight you for the seeker spot." Ginny said the calmness in her voice changing to anger.

"Fight me?" Harry repeated with an uncertain laugh. He hadn't brought his wand out with him and Ginny was the last person he wanted fight!

"First one to get the snitch is the seeker." Ginny said her eyes not leaving Harry's. Harry relaxed and he felt a smile come to his face. See wanted a fly off to see who the better seeker was. Now that he could do.

"Alright," Harry said. "Your on, first one to get the snitch is seeker." Harry looked over at Ron. "Let it free mate." Ron looked between Harry and his sister and then nodded and hurried off to the box that contained the Quidditch balls.

Both Harry and Ginny mounted their brooms. Ginny's face was still red and she still looked very angry. Harry took a deep breath. He could do this. It was true that Ginny was good, but Harry knew he was better. He would prove it and then there would be nothing to argue about.

"Okay!" Ron shouted from across the field. "I'm letting the snitch out now!" Harry caught a glimmer of gold as the snitch raced up into the air. He watched it as long as he could before it darted off and was too high to see. When a minute had passed Ron shouted again, "READY… SET… GO!"

With a push off the ground Harry was air born soaring towards the spot where the snitch had been. Ginny was right beside him. Her broom was not nearly as fast as his but she still handled it very well.

Suddenly she veered off, Harry turned looking in the direction she was going, he had learned from experience that following an opponent was often a trap and he wanted to make sure that before he committed the snitch was really there. He didn't see the snitch anywhere in the direction Ginny was flying, she couldn't have found it so quickly. Harry was about to change direction to follow and make up the lost distance when Ginny suddenly began to fall very, very fast. For a moment Harry thought something had gone horribly wrong but then he saw it, the snitch hovering close to the ground.

She had led his vision away from the snitch giving her a large lead towards the real prize. It was very clever but not clever enough. Turning Harry zoomed downwards with all possible speed. He was catching up with Ginny as she plummeted towards the ground. Quickly Harry drew even with her.

The snitch seemed to sense their approach and fled at full speed along the ground trying desperately to escape its pursuers. Harry pulled up at almost the last possible second, Ginny did the same right along side him. They weren't more than ten feet above the ground now traveling with impossible speed. Both brooms were moving very fast but Harry's Firebolt was faster. He passed Ginny his hand reached out for the snitch and Harry caught it.

There was cheering coming from the students that had been watching as Harry returned back to where his team mates were standing. Harry held up the snitch in his balled fist and the crowed of Gryffindors roared their approval. Harry couldn't help but smile.

Ginny landed a few feet away from Harry.

"Well I guess that's that," Harry said holding out his hand. "Good run for it Ginny you had me for a second with…" Ginny turned angrily on Harry snarling like a wild beast and stopping him mid sentence.

"You cheated!" Ginny said angrily, there was furry in her eyes like Harry had never seen before. "You only won because of that stupid Firebolt!"

"What?" Harry said uneasily.

"You know what, I quit, I don't want to play on a team with a cheater like you!" Ginny shouted and stormed off the field as the crowed of Gryffindors watched whispered. Harry felt uncomfortable. The people that had been cheering for him only seconds ago were staring at him like he was some kind of freak to be gawked at.

Harry felt Ron's hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"I think I need to be alone," Harry said, "can you handle this?" Harry asked indicating the students. Ron nodded uneasily and Harry headed off to the changing room.

---

Harry punched the locker again. There was already a large dent forming in the front. Harry pulled his fist back and struck again, harder. This time there was blood but still Harry couldn't feel anything.

How could he have been so stupid, why had he been such a jerk. Something inside him was broken but he couldn't tell what it was. He couldn't feel what it was. Harry's fist hit the blood smeared locker again.

This wasn't his fault. He had been seeker first, why had Ginny tried to take it away from him? Why couldn't she just have taken the chaser spot? Harry hit the locker again there was a snapping sound as one of the hinges broke free from the frame. Hot tears were running down Harry's face.

Harry felt the cold bump of a heartbeat in his pocked. Instinctively Harry reached into his robe with is bloody hand and pulled out the heartstone. In the locker room the stone looked black in color and between his finger tips there was almost no heartbeat.

Harry turned the stone in his fingers looking at it as thought he was expecting answers or a voice telling him what to do now or how to feel. But the stone remained cold and it spoke no words.

This was Ginny's fault, she had toyed with his heart. She had given him this collar to control him. Harry crushed the stone into his hand. Everything was her fault.

She had been the one to let Tom Riddle out of the Diary. She had almost been responsible for killing Hermione. She still had dreams about Tom Riddle, she still thought about him and worst of all, Harry knew, she still loved Tom!

Harry roared angrily, rage overtaking his brain, the need for vengeance and retribution to great to think about anything else. He wouldn't stand to be under her control any longer. With all his might he hurled the heartstone against the wall. It impacted with the sounds of glass and shattered into tinny glittering pieces that floated to the floor like dust.

---

Harry met up with Ron at dinner time, Harry was glad that Ginny wasn't there. He hopped she was up in her room crying her eyes out. Harry tried to talk to Ron a couple times, to ask how the chaser picking had been but Ron didn't seem to be able to open his mouth.

Finally, tired of Ron's unpleasantness Harry got up and left. It was Ron's fault too, because he was such a stupid git! Harry had intended to head up to the dormitories to go to bed but instead he found himself outside the front gates of the castle.

For a very brief instant Harry thought of going down to Hagrid's hut. The smoke coming from the hut looked warm and inviting. But the moment passed and seeing Hagrid's hut reminded Harry of thoughts too painful to think about right now.

He felt a strange mixture of feelings inside himself. So many he couldn't sort out on from another. But for all the feelings floating around inside his chest not one was able to make it to his head. Harry couldn't think of anything, his mind was blank unable to string any thoughts together.

His feet found their own path, leading him about, for how long he did not know. The school grounds seemed endless and all the same as he walked. He was unsure if he was going in circles or in a strait line, either way he didn't care. The sky was starting to become dark and the surroundings were not familiar at all.

He stopped walking. He was in some place he had never been before, a field of grass. Had this been where he was going? Harry didn't think so. This place didn't seem like any place that he wanted to go.

The stars were shinning brightly now and the ground was covered in a ghostly white. Harry looked down at his hands to see them glowing and he was reminded of the events that had happened in his mind when he had almost lost Hermione.

He knew what he had to do, where he had to go, knew that by doing so he would be endangering himself and possibly facing expulsion. But he didn't care, he had to see her, had to make sure that she really was okay because she was all he had left.

With the night as cover for his travel Harry created a finding orb and set it on its way. Talon followed quickly behind the glowing orb as it rose up past the clouds and rushed out across the dark sky.

The orb moved very quickly but Talon moved just as fast, it was as if the orb knew just how fast he could fly.

---

The finding orb vanished into the roof a nearby building. The city was very dark but Talon could still see muggles out on the street. Circling once Talon spotted an ally in which he could land without being noticed. Once on the ground Talon became Harry again and without wasting a second Harry hurried around the corner towards the entrance to St. Mungos.

Harry's steps slowed as he spotted a group of teenage muggles hanging out along the sidewalk, very close to the hidden entrance. Alarm bells were going off in Harry's head. These people did not belong here. Something about them just wasn't right.

As Harry drew closer to them one of the teens spotted him and whispered to the others. They all moved off the wall and blocked the sidewalk. Harry knew he should feel something but fear didn't seem to be making it to his head just now, he felt empty like nothing mattered. Whatever these muggles wanted, if they delayed him it would be the last think they ever did.

"Hey mate," one of the teenage boys said. The boy's face was unshaven and his clothing was dingy. Silver chains hung from his pockets. Everything about him shouted bad news to Harry. "There's a toll for using our sidewalk. Well just take whatever you have on you."

"Get out of my way," Harry snarled. Part of Harry couldn't believe he had just said that, but that part was quickly silence with roar of rage inside him. "I don't have time for muggles like you."

Some of the teens laughed and Harry noticed that a couple of them were girls. One had a lot of makeup on her face and didn't look very pretty at all.

"I don't think so," said one of the boys as he pulled a switch blade from his pocket. Harry took a step back and drew his wand. More laughing. "What'a you gona do with that, poke us?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of kill you," Harry said viciously. Laughter came again but it seemed more uneasy this time.

"You had your warning," the boy in front said, "it's your own fault." The teens began to advance on Harry. Harry was about to start casting, he was ready to kill them all, but the teens froze as a low grow came from behind them.

Harry felt his eyes go wide as a tall shadow with glowing red eyes towered behind the teens plunging the area into shadow even under the bright lights of the street laps.

With lightning speed black wings erupted from the shadows back, razor claws hovered above the teens preparing to strike down upon them and a roar that shook the ground echoed out into the night. Without hesitation the teens began to flee pushing past Harry and running screaming with fear.

Harry was frozen too. It was the shadow monster from his mind, it was here, it was real! Harry had to do something, he had to fight back. Aiming his wand at the shadow monster Harry waited for it to take a step towards him. But to quite the opposite the shadow monster retreated a few steps before becoming smaller. The glowing red eyes dimmed and went out. The wings and claw like hands shrunk back, into the monster.

"_Obliviate!_" the monster said. Harry felt something rush over his head and the screams of the teens, who had been running down the street, stopped. Harry looked back over his shoulder to see the teens standing looking around as though they didn't know where they were.

Harry looked back at the shadow monster.

"I am surprised that your first course of action was attack," the shadow monster said. "I would have thought defense might be your preference." Now that the moment had passed Harry was unsure how he had been fooled, it hadn't been a monster at all, it had been an illusion.

"Solaris?" Harry said. The dark shadow that evaded the principles of light pulled away from the man's face. It was indeed Solaris, his wings wrapped down around him and between the slits Harry could see his glowing armor. "But how?"

"A simple illusion, actually a combination of simple illusions, I thought you would have seen right past though, Mr. Harry Potter, since you were the only one to get all correct answers on the detection test." Solaris said.

"No," Harry said. "I mean how did you know I was here?" Solaris laughed as though the question was funny.

"I have been charged with your safety, I make it my business to know where you are." Harry wasn't sure if he should feel grateful or angry about this, but at the moment he didn't feel anything.

"I'm going to see Hermione," Harry said defiantly. Solaris nodded. Harry had been expecting a fight or an argument of some kind, in fact he had almost been hoping for it, but Solaris gave no protest. "You're not going to try and stop me? Not going to give me detention or something for breaking the rules and coming here?"

"Your actions are yours to chose," Solaris said. "I am here only to protect." Harry was confused, Solaris seemed like a totally different person than he had been at Hogwarts. But at the same time he seemed exactly like the person Harry had known outside of Hogwarts.

"But you're a teacher," Harry said.

"We are not at school, we are not in class and so here I am not a teacher." Solaris said. Harry wasn't satisfied, a part of him wanted to argue more, wanted a Solaris to stop speaking nonsense and just tell him the truth! But another part, a larger part, of him wanted to see Hermione.

"Fine, whatever," Harry said waving Solaris off. Harry moved to the magical entrance of St. Mungos passed through. The lobby was very crowed for it being so late at night. Harry made his way to the reception desk as he had no idea where to find Hermione and didn't think that using a finding orb inside the building would go over so well.

Harry was third in line, the person at the front was talking very, very fast. So fast in fact that Harry couldn't understand a word he was saying and apparently neither could the medi-witch that was tending the counter.

"Yes, yes," the medi-witch said. "Fill this out and a healer with be with you as quickly as possible." The man moved out of the way and took a seat filling out the form with a blur of speed. Harry stepped up as the line moved forward, as he did Harry became aware of someone standing beside him. Harry looked over and was surprised to find Solaris there. For some reason Harry had completely forgotten that Solaris was here.

He was dressed differently now and Harry couldn't imagine where he had found the time to change clothing. Solaris' cloak was just white cloth and not feathers. The armor had been covered over by a robe. Solaris seemed to be just another wizard in the crowed.

"Yes, next please," the medi-witch at counter said. Harry had been so taken up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed it was his turn. Harry stepped up to the counter. "What can we help you with dear?" The medi-witch asked.

"I'm here to visit a friend, Hermione Granger," Harry said.

"Ohhh, I'm sorry," the medi-witch said, "but it's far too late for visitors tonight, come back around 10 tomorrow and we should be able to let you up."

"We have a special note permitting the visit," Solaris said. Harry felt taken aback, clearly the medi-witch was too. A special note, how was that possible, who could have written it, surely not Solaris. Solaris pulled a piece of parchment from inside his robe and handed it to the medi-wtich. She read it over and finally handed it back.

"Alright, a short visit, but please by quiet and do not wake any of our patients. Who did you want to see again?" The medi-wtich asked as she pulled up a clip board.

"Hermione Granger," Harry repeated. The medi-witch tapped the top of the clipboard with her finger and the pages flipped back over the top.

"Okay, here we are, room 642," she said tracing her finger down the clipboard. "Sign here please," She tapped a sign-in sheet on the counter, Harry signed it on the last open line. "And time please," Harry looked at the clock, 11:47pm, and added the time.

Solaris and Harry moved over to the lift in the back that would take them up to the sixth floor. They were alone in the lift. The last time Harry had been here it had been with Ron and Hermione to visit Mr. Weasley who had been injured by… him…no, by Voldemort, Harry reminded himself.

Harry pushed the thought from his head, he needed to talk about something else anything else. Harry looked over at Solaris who stood with his white cloak wrapped around him. He was looking at the doors to the lift his face emotionless.

"Where did you get that note from?" Harry asked. Solaris did not look down at Harry but instead continued to watch the lift doors as though he was expecting them to spring open at any second.

"The headmaster provided me with it, after the incident in the great hall tonight," Solaris said.

"What incident?" Harry asked. To Harry's recollection there had been nothing that had happened.

"Professor Trelawney arrived near the end of dinner, she did not seem to be herself," Solaris said calmly his eyes still watching the door. "Her words made no sense to me and she spoke with a voice that was not her own. Once she was silent Dumbledore sent me to find you," Solaris produced a note and handed it to Harry. Harry read it.

_Special visiting persimmons granted to Harry Potter,_

_By Order of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_Approved by…_

Harry felt his eyes go wide.

…_Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic_

"Fudge signed this? But, Fudge hates me, why would he sign this?" Harry asked. Harry didn't understand, if Dumbledore had written the note when had Fudge had time to sign it.

"I am surprised you don't see it Mr. Harry Potter," Solaris said. "Did you cheat on your magical detection test?" Harry looked down at the note again. Something Funny was happening. The letters were starting to change somehow, to become different shapes.

"It's a fake?" Harry said looking back at Solaris.

"It's a polly-morphing note, taking on any message desired by the user," Solaris said. Harry looked at the bottom of the note, new words were starting to appear, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry felt a smile come to his face for a brief moment, he was contented to know that even Dumbledore didn't seem to be above buying tricks and jokes from the Weasley twins.

"There is also something else," Solaris said as he pulled an orb from inside his robe. Harry had seen an orb like this before, it was a prophecy orb. Solaris handed it to Harry. "Dumbledore said that last time he hidden the truth from you the price had been far too high. He told me to show you what you need to know."

Harry looked into the orb and could see a glowing light inside. The orb was warm in his hands. Harry was starting to feel uneasy. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear this message.

"Speak the words, '_Ago en actrum_' to view the images within," Solaris said.

"_Ago en actrum_," Harry said holding the orb, whatever was inside he was about to find out. Light spiraled in a cone above the orb. The face of Professor Trelawney appeared as though projected into the light. She spoke in the same voice Harry had heard before, a voice that was not her own.

_Upon the Hour between the days the dark lord he does go_

_What he seeks he soon shall find unguarded and alone_

_The boy who lived shall lose the love that he holds dear_

_The shadows will again be free again at five past the New Year_

Harry had no words to speak, it was like a riddle. And then the second to last line, Harry realized its meaning, 'the boy who lived,' that was him, 'shall lose tonight the love that he holds dear.' Harry felt a sudden panic, his first thoughts were Ginny, but she wasn't alone, Hermione, Harry realized. The door of the lift opened without waiting Harry burst through the half-opened doors dropping the orb and drawing his wand as he sprinted down the hall.

There was shouting coming from a room not far away. Harry was running as fast as he could praying he wasn't too late. Room 638. The shouts were louder now. Harry pushed himself to run faster. Room 640. Harry skidded to a halt at the next door. Room 642.

"LET GO OF ME, GET OFF! SOMEONE HELP!" Harry recognized the voice as Hermione's.

"Be silent bitch!" Shouted another voice. Harry took forceful hold of the doorknob and tried to turn it but the door was locked. Harry hit the door hard with his shoulder but it did not move. Harry stepped back to use his wand to blow the door apart.

With lighting speed Solaris moved between the door and Harry, his wings spread wide. Harry could see the flash of a blade as Solaris cut the door from its hinges and kicked it down into the room.

Both Solaris and Harry rushed into the hospital room. Framed against the window on the far wall a group of four Death Eaters clad all in black were struggling to subdue Hermione as she kicked and punched at them

The Death Eaters froze at the sight of the newcomers, clearly they had not been expecting anyone to be able to get in, especially not a Seraphim and Harry Potter.

"Harry?" Hermione cried in surprise as she turned to see who had entered. She was dressed in a white hospital robe and Harry felt his checks go red as he realized that Hermione was standing half naked in front of him. The moment quickly passed however as the Death Eater she had been fighting with took advantage of her laps in concentration and wrapped his arms around her in a crushing hug so that all she could do was struggle against his embrace.

"Let her go," Harry said coldly leveling his wand at the Death Eaters. There might be four of them and only one of him but he was ready to fight them all.

"An unexpected bonus," one of the Death Eaters hissed. A wand point out at Harry from the group of Death Eaters, orange light shot from the end. The Death Eater standing closest to Harry struck the others hand away and the orange light impacted outside in the hallway.

"No," hiss the lead Death Eater, "we are only here for the girl."

"That's too bad," Solaris said. There was a roar of rage and Solaris leapt across the room his sword cutting a path in the ceiling as it traveled in striking position above his head. Shouts of Death Eaters erupted as Solaris landed next to the group and cut down the Death Eater that had shot the spell at Harry. The other Death Eaters broke from the group trying to get clear of the swinging blade. But in the confined space there was no place for them to escape too.

Harry couldn't use his wand here either he might hit Hermione, he only had the option that had worked so well against almost every adult wizard he had ever fought, hand to hand combat. It almost always seemed to be something that older wizards were not prepared to deal with.

He let out a roar of his own as he rushed across the room at full speed and punched the Death Eater in the front of the group right in the center of his face. The man clasped his hands to his mask and Harry struck him again, hard in the stomach. Harry pulled out his wand with his left hand and pointed it at the face of the Death Eater holding Hermione.

"Let her go," Harry snarled. "Or I turn your head inside out." The Death Eater released Hermione and put his hands in the air in surrender.

"Fawl bawck!" The Death Eater, that Harry had punched, shouted it sounded like his nose had been broken. Harry had expected them to dissaperate but far from it the Death Eater that had been holding Hermione and the one that had shouted retreat both turned jumped out the window. For a moment Harry thought they were jumping to their deaths, this room was six floors up. But instead quite the opposite they raced upwards into the sky, flying away. Outside bolts of magic shot into the air after the Death Eaters, someone was attacking them from the ground.

All but two of the Death Eaters managed to make it out the window. One, Harry could see was clearly dead. He was upon the floor a great gash down the front of his body exposing a horrible sight of his insides and a welling of blood. The other was fighting against Solaris. The Death Eater had a black glowing sword in his hand and the two opponents were locked together at the blade. Harry couldn't get a clean shot at the Death Eater, not without hitting Solaris.

"Everyone halt!" shouted a voice from the doorway. Harry turned to see Aurors pouring into the room, their wands drawn. This momentary interruption was all the Death Eater needed, like his companions he jumped out the window and soared up into the sky. Solaris turned to follow.

"I said stop Seraphim!" The man shouted again. Solaris drew back from the window, his wings wrapped down around him like a cloak hiding his sword and his armor.

"All of you are under arrest, by decree of magical law, you will be taken down to the ministry for trial." The man said. "You will hand over your wands for destruction." The man held his hand out, behind him six Aurors stood, their wands all pointed into the room. Harry felt Hermione's hand against his waist as she stood behind him. Harry did not move to give the man his wand.

"Aurors at the ready," the man said when Harry did not hand his wand over. "The next command will be for them to attack, now, your wands." The man said again.

"LOOK OUT!" Shouted one of the Aurors. A blot of magic was fired up at the ceiling. Harry had just enough time to glance over his shoulder before Solaris landed behind Harry and Hermione. White wings wrapped down around them. There was shouting. A hand produced a round stone with runes along the outside, Harry knew he had seen it some place before, but where?

Solaris fingers began to tap the runes very quickly, each tapped rune began to glow with blue light.

"_Mori tempest abs finis et intravalya_!" Solaris said as he pressed the center of the stone. There was a blinding flash of white light and Harry felt weightless.

---

"Aurors at the ready," Etron said. Potter stood defiantly, his girlfriend hiding behind him, her face just as rebellious. "The next command will be for them to attack, now, your wands."

"LOOK OUT!" one of the Aurors from behind Etron shouted. A stunning spell rushed by going wide of the Seraphim who had leapt from the window. For a moment Etron thought he was going to attack but instead the Seraphim landed behind the children, wings spread wide.

"ATTACK, NOW!" Etron shouted. Spells flew through the air striking the wings as they curled around the children. Etron halted his Aurors attacks with a hand. No magic could penetrate a Seraphim's wings, except for the killing curse. "Killing curses," the Aurors looked at each other, "now!"

Etron aimed his wand ready to strike and kill the creature but before he could even utter the first word a ball of fire erupted around the Seraphim, there was a flash of light and a roar of thunder, the three had vanished.

Etron moved to the spot the children had just been. A circler section of the floor had also left with them and through the hole Etron could see people looking up at him from the room below.

"Don't just stand there," Etron shouted angrily as he whirled on his Aurors, "Find them!" The Aruros hurried out of the room. Etron pulled a small round mirror from his pocket. The face of Kingsly Shaklebolt appeared upon it.

"The Death Eaters have escaped," Etron said into the mirror. "Students from Hogwarts were also present here, they fled in the company of a Seraphim." Shaklebolt looked surprised.

"Hogwarts students, are you sure?" Shaklebolt asked.

"Yes, one was the student who had been brought here from Hogwarts, a girl named Hermione Granger and her accomplice was non other than Harry Potter." Etron said. "Both refused the order to surrender their wands. The Headmaster must be called to the Ministry at once." Shaklebolt nodded thoughtfully, pondering over the words.

"You are right, I will see that Dumbledore is notified immediately." Shaklebolt said and then the mirror went dark. Etron slid the glass back into his pocket and a smile spread across his face. So far everything had gone according to his master's plan.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review, but only if you reviewed can you read the stuff in the parentheses) chapter 17 of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil.

Thank you also to Thelvyn for pointing out a misspelling that existed throughout a couple chapters. I have corrected the word in all the places I could find, as it was under many different spelkings. Again I check the best I can but I can only check so many times. If you spot other misspelled names point them out and I will correct them in as timely a manner as is possible.

I won't answer any of the questions that will be answered by the story but I will repeat, for any who missed (or because I didn't make it clear enough), the following answers.

One: Malfoy does have something; I personally think it's the case of the uglys. Guess all you like, you'll just have to see if you're right or wrong later on.

Two: Solaris didn't notice the events in his class because no one, except for Harry, noticed the events.

Three: No one but Harry (and some readers) have asked any questions about the events in the great hall, this is because Dumbledore asked people not too ask or talk about the events of that night.

Four: The attack in Hagrid's class, as far as the teachers are concerned, wasn't an attack, it was just a fight between students.

Five: I know that generally readers like to know the pairing for a story, however, for this story part of the tension is brought on by not knowing the final outcome. Therefore I will not be revealing the answer to the question, Harry? In any of my authors notes. You will have to wait and see or figure it out on your own. Sorry to any readers that don't like it that way x

These are all points that I tried to conveyed to the readers, but being the author my brain sometimes skips reinforcement of these facts, I am also limited by time and again can only proof so many times. If anyone was confused on any of these questions I hope this clears those points up.

A final note and then I am done. I do not consider this chapter complete in its structure. I think that with some time it could be made to flow a bit better, however, due to my lack of time it will have to do. All the points that needed to be hit are here and a possible rewrite might be made latter to make it more reader friendly.

Chapter 18 coming soon to a computer screen near you.


	18. – The Lost Chapter

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

PLEASE NOTE -- THIS CHAPTER HAS CHANGED

As of June 21, 2005. If you read it before that, please read it again because it is NOT THE SAME STORY. See author's notes

* * *

Chapter 18 – The Lost Chapter

The white flash of light subsided. Harry rubbed his eyes. They were outside someplace, he wasn't sure where. Everything seemed a bit blurry.

"HARRY!" Hermione cried. He felt her arms wrap around his body crushing him against her. She pulled back to look at him, there was a very wide smile across her face and she was positively glowing.

"I'm glad you're okay," Harry said uneasily. Even though he was happy to see her, he wasn't. He couldn't explain it but he felt as though he had lost something. He felt detached. Harry looked around. "Where are we?"

It was a strange setting, the sky was nearly cloudless and the stars glinted like tiny jewels. Around them was an odd assortment of stones. Some were connected like archways, while others stood alone. They seemed to be sitting in the middle of some kind of giant stone ring on a circular piece of flooring that looked like it belonged inside a hospital.

"Stonehenge," Solaris said. Solaris was resting heavily against a rock a few paces away. He looked very tired and his voice sounded forced.

Harry had heard of Stonehenge. It was some kind of strange gathering of rocks. But muggles only speculated about its meaning and Harry hadn't any real interest in it. It was just a trivial fact in the back of his head.

"Are we really?" Hermione stood and turned in a circle looking at the rocks around them. As she did Harry could see her naked backside and he felt uneasy.

"Uh, Hermione," Harry said. "Your robe doesn't…err cover you very well." Hermione clasped her hands over her butt, turned away from Harry and quickly sat back down. Her face was very red and her eyes were very large. "Here," Harry said pulling his robe off. He always had a school uniform on underneath and today was no exception. Hermione took the robe with a grateful nod and pulled it around her.

"I can't believe we are really at Stonehenge," Hermione said. The overwhelming urge to explore caused her to stand again. Even though it was night, the stones were visible under the starlight. Harry looked over at Solaris. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be asleep.

"Solaris, are you okay?" Harry asked moving over to him while Hermione wandered off.

"Just tired," Solaris said heavily not opening his eyes. Harry stood and moved over to Hermione who was admiring one of the larger stones that stood alone.

"Its amazing isn't it," Hermione said running a hand along the rock. "More than 5000 years old and even wizards don't know why it was built here or even why it was built at all! Well there's speculation of course, there always is with something like this. But I don't remember it having so many stones the last time I was here. Of course I wasn't allowed to come inside, they have it all fenced off."

"Yeah," Harry said dully, looking back at Solaris with unease. "But what are we doing here?" Harry asked.

"Well, that I don't know," Hermione said following Harry's eyes over to Solaris. "Is he alright?"

"I don't think so," Harry said. The two of them moved back over to Solaris.

"Professor, are you alright?" Hermione asked kneeling next to him. Solaris didn't answer. Hermione looked over at Harry who shrugged. "Professor," Hermione tried again putting her hand on his chest and shaking him.

Solaris's hand suddenly snapped up and grabbed her wrist. His eyes had surprise in them and… fear? The emotion faded. Solaris released his grip on Hermione and leaned back against the rock.

"I am sorry," Solaris said uneasily. "The trip here was most difficult."

"How exactly did we get here?" Hermione asked. "We couldn't have apperated, and you couldn't have made a port key."

"Why not?" Harry asked. That was what he had been thinking. Harry had seen Dumbledore make port keys before to get around anti-apperation wards.

"Because," Hermione said, "You can only make a port key out of a magically protected area if you were someone who helped protected it. Honestly, you should read…"

"Hogwarts, a history," Harry said along with Hermione. She looked surprised but smiled at him. "If you keep saying that, maybe one day I will read it and then you won't be able to correct me every time." Harry teased. For a brief instant it had felt good and he had felt happy. But the instant faded and he felt horrible inside. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, I thought it was funny," Hermione said with a smile. "But Professor," Hermione said returning her attention back to Solaris, "how…" Solaris' eyes were closed again and he apparently hadn't been listening to them.

"Maybe we should let him rest," Harry said. Hermione nodded and started to stand. Harry rose to his feet but Hermione had knelt back down next to Solaris and was looking at something. "What?" Harry asked when Hermione did not move.

There was a second's pause and then Hermione lifted something in both hands and moved over to Harry. It was the round stone Harry had seen Solaris use back in the hospital.

"Harry," Hermione breathed as she looked intently at the stone. "I don't believe it! Do you know what this is?"

"Uh, a port key?" Harry ventured.

"No, well yes, it is port key," Hermione said shaking her head. "It's the port key we used back on Avalon." Hermione said turning round stone to examine it closer. "Solaris must have brought it with him on the night we left, but I don't see why it took us here.

"Maybe it's not just a port key, it must be a Tepex Stone." She said it like the words were earth moving. Hermione glanced over at Harry correctly interpreting his blank expression. "A Tepex Stone is a port key that can take you to lots of different places. I read all about them when I was researching N.E.W.T. spells. Port keys, are of course, well beyond the N.E.W.T requirements, but it never hurts to be prepared."

"Hang on," Harry said, "last time you said it was cry-something."

"Crypto-nix," Hermione corrected. "A crypto-nix is a puzzle spell, the stone was hidden inside." Hermione said matter-of-factly. Harry shook his head still having no idea what she was talking about. Hermione raised her voice and moved closer to draw Harry attention back. "Anyway, the runes along the outside act like a sort of phone dial, by pressing them in a certain order you can go many different places. Solaris must have hit the symbols to bring us to Stonehenge. "

"That's great," Harry said. "But how do we get it to take us to Hogwarts?" The air was starting to get cold now that Harry had given up his robe. He was also starting to feel tired.

"Well we just need to know the number for Hogwarts, I guess," Hermione said. "There're 14 symbols on the stone representing letters, and seven symbols representing numbers. If an address can be any non-repeating combination from one to twenty 21 characters in length then…" Hermione closed her eyes her lips moving and counting. "Well, a very large amount of combinations."

"I saw Solaris press six different symbols," Harry said. "I think the first one was this." Harry pointed to the top most symbol.

"That's the Ree," Hermione said, "The fourth letter in the alphabet but it could also mean earth or hills. In this context though, because the alphabet is in order I assume it just means Ree. You didn't happen to see any of the other symbols he pressed?" Harry looked over the stone. They all looked pretty much the same to him.

"No," Harry said.

"I don't think we should try and push things at random," Hermione said. "We might be taken some place we don't want to be." Harry yawned. The grip of sleep was taking him in.

"What if we pushed all the symbols, wouldn't that take us back to Avalon?" Harry asked. His eyes felt heavy.

"Hmmm, maybe," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"It's better than freezing out here isn't it?" Harry asked. Hermione looked at the stone and finally nodded.

"Alright, let's give it a try." Hermione said. "Let's move over by Solaris so that we take him with us." They moved next to Solaris and knelt. Harry took hold of the stone with one hand and Solaris with the other.

"Right," Harry said nodding.

"Right," Hermione replied. She took a deep breath and began to push the rune symbols along the outside in order. As she touched them the runes began to glow, and they remained lit even after her finger moved on.

Her finger hovered over the last rune. Harry nodded. Hermione pressed the rune and… the glow vanished. There was a long moment of pause but nothing happened.

"Didn't we need some kind of password or something last time?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded uncertainly. Again she pressed all the runes in order and said "Excalibur," after pressing the last rune. As before the glow vanished and nothing happened.

"Maybe it only works on Avalon?" Hermione asked looking up at Harry.

"We'd best find a place to stay for the night," Harry said with a shiver. "It really is getting cold. It feels like it the middle of winter instead of the end of summer." He looked around wondering how far away the nearest town was, or even if one was nearby at all.

"We can't stay here in any case," Hermione said. "Maybe we can find someone at the visitor center!"

Harry was about to agree when the sound of voices broke the night air.

"It came from here, I'm sure of it!" said the voice. Harry and Hermione froze. Had someone heard them? What if it was muggle policemen coming to arrest them?

"Come on we have to hide," Harry said taking one of Solaris's arms. The two of them dragged him into the shelter of a nearby arch. Harry crouched down against the stone watching for the people that had been speaking.

Light appeared under one of the arches on the other side of the stone ring. For a moment Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was seeing. A man with a shining silver hat was holding a burning torch in one hand and in the other a long metal spear. He was draped in a red and gold tabard. Metal chain mesh ran down his arms and legs.

Harry crouched lower. A second man appeared, almost the same except he did not have a torch.

"I'm telling you it was a flash of light as bright as the sun," the man with the torch said. He held it out illuminating the circle. Harry held very still hoping they wouldn't spot him.

"I see nothing here. Perhaps it fled at our approach. Come, we must report back to Master Merlin," the other man said. Harry was sure he was hearing things. None of this could be real. Somehow he had gone mad. The two men turned and the light faded after them.

"Harry," Hermione whispered loudly as she clutched his arm. He had forgotten she was there. "Did you see them, did you hear them, Merlin!" Harry was nodding. His brain had already figured it out but hadn't let him in on the joke yet. "We were wrong, it's not _were_ we are it's _when_. Ohhh, Harry this is bad. We can't be here, we shouldn't be here, it's against the law to change the past."

"But we don't have any other options," Harry said. "We have to see Merlin. If we are stuck in the past he is probably the only person that can get us home."

"What should we do about Solaris?" Hermione asked. "I mean we can't take him with us."

"He should be okay if we leave him here," Harry said. "We shouldn't be gone too long." Hermione's eyes looked pained but she nodded. Harry stood and followed after the two men as fast as was possible without making a noise.

The archway on the other side was like a tunnel. Many stones sat together creating a passage. When they emerged out the other side Harry knew they would have no problem finding where the men were headed. A huge encampment of tents lay stretched across the grassy fields. Torches burned brightly and Harry could make out many, many soldiers.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Hermione said.

"Well," Harry said, "at least we aren't breaking any law. It hasn't been passed yet." Harry was sure he could hear Hermione pursing her lips behind him.

Moving slowly towards the encampment Harry was trying to think of words to say. Nothing was coming. Everything sounded stupid or insane. They just had to find Merlin quickly and see if he knew how to get them home.

"HALT!" Shouted a voice from behind Harry and Hermione. Before Harry had time to react spears had come down around them. Harry stood very still as the razor tips hovered only a foot from his face. Harry felt Hermione clinging against his arm. "Identify yourselves!"

"Um," Harry said he couldn't take his mind off the spear pointed at him. Nothing was coming, his brain had frozen.

"We've come to see Merlin! We're wizards like him!" Hermione cried. The spears did not move away, nor did they advance. There was a long unpleasant silence. Harry was starting to have a bad feeling about this idea.

"Stand aside, stand aside now!" said a gruff voice. A large man, who was missing an eye, made his way between the soldiers surrounding Harry and Hermione. The spears parted just enough to let him stand toe to toe with Harry.

He was a monster of a man, huge in every respect of the word. A shaggy black beard clung to his chin and there was a hint of grey at its edges. A large hideous scar ran down his face obscured only by an eye patch. For some reason Harry thought this man looked very familiar.

"There not but children!" The man said looking down at Harry and Hermione. "Away, this is no place for you." For some reason Harry felt angry. He wasn't a child.

"We've come to see Merlin," Harry repeated. The large man did not move.

"Have you now," the large man said. "And what business do you have with him?"

"Please it's very important!" Hermione said franticly.

"I don't think they'll be any trouble," the large man muttered over his shoulder to someone behind him. "Best lock um up till we can figure out what ta do with em."

"Aye Captain!" the man replied. Harry felt his hands being pulled behind his back. Hermione let out a cry.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted. With a fast jerk Harry pulled himself free sending the soldier to the ground. Harry had enough time to pull his wand out and point it threateningly at the soldiers. "Back off all of you!" Harry said, his eyes aglow with rage. The soldiers took a step away as Harry pointed his wand at them. The one-eyed man did not move.

"Well, you've got some mighty fine fight in you," the large man said. "But yah need ta know when you're licked." Faster than Harry could comprehend, the large man's fist leapt out and struck him across the face. The spinning ground rushed up to met him.

---

Someone was talking distantly in a low voice. Harry's head was pounding. He felt like he had been hit full on in the face by a rogue bludger.

"Wake him," said a voice. Harry felt cold water crash against him. The stinging chilled him to the bone. His eyes snapped open. Harry struggled to reach for his pocket to get his wand but his hands were bound behind his back. He was sitting in a chair unable to stand. Harry balled his fist pulling hard at the ropes trying to break them.

"I told ya he got fight in him," said a gruff voice from next to Harry. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Harry looked around. He was inside some kind of tent. There were four men standing around a table. Each had on a different color of plate armor. The man nearest to Harry was dressed in gold, on his side sat a sword that glowed with a light of its own. Hermione was not here.

"Where's my friend?" Harry snarled angrily, his eyes boring into the man in the gold armor.

"Hold your tongue," said the gruff voice. The hand on his shoulder squeezed hard. "You shalt not address the King of England with such disrespect." Harry felt surprise, 'the King of England?' It couldn't be...

"King Arthur?" Harry said looking at the man. His face was youthful with a strong chin. His eyes were blue like a cloudless sky. His brown hair had been cut very short to his head. The man seemed to glow. His very presence in the room drew eyes to him. This wasn't possible, how could he be sitting before King Arthur. Were had Solaris taken them to?

"You know my name, wizard," Arthur said. "However you have not told me yours."

"It's uh…" Harry thought, he didn't know anything about the laws of time. What if by telling his name he somehow caused himself not to be born, or something like that. "It's Harry," Harry said at last. He didn't see how making up a name would do any less harm.

"Well, Harry," Arthur said taking a step towards him, "how is it that you and your friend managed to find our camp?"

"You weren't exactly hard to miss," Harry said without thinking. "I mean you're a huge camp of tents sitting near Stonehenge." With lightning fast speed Arthur pulled his sword from his side and pointed the blade at Harry. The tip was only inches from his throat.

"You have no doubt heard of the magical sword Excalibur? Forged on the mystical island of Avalon, imbued with ancient magics." Arthur said. Harry looked down the long silver blade. He had seen this sword before, in Arthur's tomb on Avalon.

"Perhaps, you also have heard tell, that Excalibur can reveal falsehoods." Arthur said. "Speak, are you friend or foe." Harry looked into Arthur's eyes and without questioning his answer spoke.

"Friend," Harry said. The tip of the blade glowed with a white light. There was a long pause at last Arthur swung the sword away and returned it to his side.

"You speak the truth, Harry," Arthur said. "Release him, Hagar." Harry's head whirled on his shoulders looking up at the giant of a man standing next to him. In the light of the tent Harry was shocked. They didn't look exactly alike but there was a striking resemblance.

"Hagar?" Harry asked unable to stop himself as the ropes were cut from his hands, Harry rubbed his wrist. The name had flicked on a switch in Harry's head. The large man's one eye looked down at him.

"You've heard of me?" Hagar asked.

"Ah, yeah," Harry said, "sort of."

"Well on your feet then Harry," Hagar said lifting Harry from his chair and placing on his feet.

"I believe that this is yours," Arthur said picking Harry's wand up from the table handing it back to him.

"Uh, thanks?" Harry said confused. He couldn't believe that was it, a simple answer and he was no longer the enemy? Arthur smiled and chuckled.

"You must forgive my rudeness, but caution is best in these troubled times. Excalibur finds your heart to be trustworthy. If you had been dishonest it would have struck you down. So when you say you are friend I have no reason to doubt." Harry nodded.

"Uh, where is Hermione?" Harry asked. Arthur motioned to one of the men in behind him.

"Fetch the lady," Arthur said. "Your friend with be with us shortly. Best we knew your intentions first."

"The rest of you, leave us. I have words to speak that must be said in confidence." Arthur said looking at the others. They bowed and left. Hagar began to move with them. "Hagar, you may stay for your council may yet be needed this night.

"You claim that you are wizards and thus I ask for your help."

"My help?" Harry couldn't believe he had just heard that. They had come here to get help. "What can I do?"

"You know magic, do you not?" Arthur asked. Harry nodded. Arthur took a moment considering his next words carefully. "The things I am about to say must never be said again." Arthur waited for Harry to answer.

"Alright," Harry said. A feeling of unease had come over him. What if Arthur was going to ask him to fight? Harry knew it was a request he could never take on. He had to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Merlin has fallen ill," Arthur said. Harry could not believe what he had just heard. It wasn't possible! "He is dying. His magic cannot heal him, but there is something you do to restore him."

"I… I can't," Harry said. "I don't know any healing spells." Arthur nodded. He seemed to be expecting this.

"I do not ask healing magic of you, you're a wizard, not a cleric." Arthur said. The entrance to the tent parted and Arthur's hand came to rest on the hilt of his blade. Hermione appeared looking very windswept.

"Oh my god!" Hermione said coming to a halt her eyes on Arthur. "You're… you're…King Arthur!" Hermione said clapping her hands over her mouth.

"Lady wizard," Arthur said bowing his head slightly.

"Actually…uh I'm a witch," Hermione said automatically correcting him without thinking, surprise became evident in her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione looked panicked.

"My mistake," Arthur said. "Please join us," Arthur held out his hand indicating that she should stand next to Harry. Hermione moved over, she took a long look at Hagar and then at Harry and finally her attention came to Arthur.

"We have traveled to this place, Stonehenge as you call it, because of an ancient legend known as the Fire of Life." Arthur motioned to the table. Upon it were strange objects and a roughly drawn map. Arthur pointed to a drawing that looked like a bunch of circles.

"It is said that the stone rings are the summoning location to beckon forth the Fire of Life. This ancient text tells of the ritual used," Arthur produced a very old piece of parchment. Harry did not recognize the language written upon it, except for one character… Ree. Harry couldn't believe it, the language was the same as one the round stone.

"_Gather the tokens of life_," Hermione said reading the parchment.

"_The heart of the mountains, hidden underfoot. _

_The clouds of the sky that cover the mountains, _

_The breath of the earth that the moves the clouds,_

_New life unborn, that soars upon the breath. _

_That which turns life to ash._

_A plume from the_ _fire of life_."

"Alas we have not found the last token," Arthur said motioning across the table. "Merlin said such words as you spoke now. I knew not what was meant by them but he asked of me to gather for him these objects." Harry looked at the things on the table. There was a brown leather bag, the kind used to hold money, a wooden bowl filled with water, a flute, an egg and two flat gray stones.

"Of course," Hermione said nodding. "Earth, water, wind… an egg… and fire." Harry looked at Hermione confused. "Oh, well, earth, water, wind and fire are the four elements that were thought to makeup the world centuries a… err rather that make up the world. I'm not sure what the egg means though. But we seem to be short one token, I mean these are only five objects and the list says six." Hermione read the last part again. "I'm not sure what it means, how do you take a plume of fire? And doesn't the line right before it seem to indicate fire too. You don't happen to know what it means?"

Arthur shook his head.

"Even Merlin did not know," Arthur said, "The full moon draws near its pinnacle if we cannot find the answer soon there may not be time to try again."

"This Fire of Life?" Hermione asked. "Do you know anything about it?" Arthur rubbed his chin.

"Not much I am afraid, Merlin is far wiser than I. If it were possible I would pray you ask him, but he is not fit for visitors. He spoke of a ring made of stones, built by ancient druids to summon forth the Fire of Life, but more than that I cannot say."

"I know a song written by druids," Hagar said speaking up. "Beggin your pardon, Sir." Hagar said bowing to Arthur. Arthur waved his hand for Hagar to continue. "My mum used to sing it to me but it's been a while since I've sung it myself." Hagar cleared his throat with a great cough and hummed trying to find the tune. Harry was mentally bracing himself for a horrible wailing of some kind but the song that followed was nothing of the sort.

_A fallen star across the skies, the flame of life that never dies_

_A song to calm the heart of those who worry on and on_

_A strength to carry any man, to home_

_A fallen tear upon an open wound, will help the injured heal soon_

_A coat of red and gold that lights the fields around_

_A noble bird, we've found_

_A womb of stone we hence did make, so that this flame will never wake_

_A seal we placed upon the ring to close it for all time_

_A song we left, behind_

Harry had never heard such a beautiful song before. He had expected Hagar's voice to be scratchy but the deep tones had given the melodies a lullaby like tone.

"A Phoenix," Hermione said excitedly.

"Yeah, aint it a lovely song, my mum had quite the voice, fraid I'm not as good. The Phoenix Lullaby," Hagar said wiping a tear from his eye.

"No I mean the song is talking about a Phoenix and a ring of stone," Hermione said. "You don't think that the 'Fire of Life' is a Phoenix, hidden inside Stonehenge?"

"It does kind of sounds that way," Harry said thinking the song over in his mind, "but that doesn't really bring us any closer to knowing what the last token is." 'Or finding a way to get home,' Harry thought to himself.

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. Hermione reread the parchment.

"_A plume from the fire of life_," Hermione said aloud. "If the fire of life is a phoenix, what's its plume?" Harry and Hermione looked at each other, it was the first time that both of the seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Not a plume of fire…" Harry said.

"A plume as in a feather, a Phoenix feather," Hermione said her eyes glowing.

"But, where do we get one of those?" Hagar asked.

Hermione grinned very widely at Harry, she knew exactly where they could find one.

---

King Arthur, Hagar, Harry, whose bottom was still sore from having a tail feather pulled, Hermione and a few knights stood around the inside of Stonehenge.

Hermione had placed the six objects in a circle on the linoleum flooring, the only place in the center of the circle that wasn't dirt. Hermione read the parchment again. There wasn't any magic chant or anything else to do but wait and hope something happened.

Harry could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't know what time it was but the bright moon in the sky seemed to make it seem like morning.

"Why does nothing happen?" Arthur asked Hermione quietly when they had waited more then an hour.

"Well, I'm not sure, it only says to place them in the center of the circle. There isn't any mention of what to do after that." Hermione said reading the paper again by wand light. Hermione flicked her wand again and the glow of the moon became the only source of light again.

Harry's eyes were half close, he felt like he was asleep. He was dimly aware of a humming noise in the back of his head. A hand shook him.

"Harry, Harry, wake up!" Harry opened his eyes. It hadn't been a dream. He really was standing in the center of Stonehenge with King Arthur.

The humming was coming from all around him. The stones, were humming. Not just humming but singing.

It was the melody that Hagar had sung.

"You don't think we're supposed to sing?" Harry whispered. Hermione shook her head, clearly not knowing the answer.

Suddenly the melody stopped. Some of the people were murmuring among themselves. The objects still sat unmoved on the linoleum circle.

A beam of white light erupted down from above and the melody resumed even louder, almost deafening. Harry looked up to see a giant full moon in the sky, its edges touching the open ring of the top of Stonehenge, Harry had never seen a moon so big before.

The white light became faster and brighter. The melody was drowned out by the roar of raw energy as it raced from the sky. A sound like thunder shook the ground as the beam of light vanished and a plume of flame opened into the night sky.

Harry blinked, forcing away the bright flash. There sitting upon the linoleum circle was a small pile of ash.

The night had become silent, the world made no sound. Arthur moved forward to the white circle and knelt down. His hands reached into the ash and pulled from it a bright red and gold egg that glowed with a warm inner light.

"Quickly," Arthur said cradling the egg. "We must make haste to Merlin's tent." For a man dressed in full plate armor King Arthur moved very quickly. Harry was in good shape but even he was having trouble keeping up.

Arthur reached a tent and entered without hesitation, Harry and Hermione followed him in. What was inside Harry was not prepared for. Bookcases, tables, chairs, a stove, a four poster bed with Merlin laying in it and Solaris sitting on a chair beside him. The two appeared to have been talking quietly.

"Merlin, my old friend," Arthur said coming to his side. "We have found for you the fire of life." Arthur held out the egg. Up until now Harry thought that Merlin's illness had been overplayed, after all he looked fine sitting in bed and talking, but as Merlin reached out a shaky withered hand to touch the egg, Harry could see the frailness. It was heartbreaking to watch.

Merlin's fingers touched the top of the egg. The shell cracked and there was a burst of flame as the egg vaporized in Arthur's hands. A baby Phoenix, featherless and small flapped its small wings. To Harry's surprise the tiny bird actually became airborne and landed in Merlin's outstretched hand.

For a moment Harry thought the bird might be too heavy for him to hold but Merlin's hand did not sink with the bird's weight. Slowly, painfully, Merlin moved his hand back to his chest. The Phoenix rested its head against him. There was a small pop of flame and it was like magic. The withered arms and frailness vanished. A smile came to Merlin's lips as he raised the tiny bird to eye level.

"Thank you my young friend," Merlin said stroking the baby phoenix gently down its back. "However, it would seem you are not the only one I have to thank this night." With his other hand he motioned to Harry and Hermione to come closer. Merlin glanced at the king and said softly, "Arthur if you would but give us a few moments alone, I have a debt to repay to these lost strangers."

Arthur rose from his knee and Harry saw a smile across his face as he departed from the tent.

"Well," Merlin said, Harry could see a gleam in his eye as he spoke, the same gleam that Dumbledore had. "It would appear I owe you my life this night. Had it not been for your arrival I doubt I would have had the strength to last much longer."

Harry couldn't help but wonder how Solaris had gotten in here.

"Solaris," Harry said looking at the Seraphim. "How did you get in here?" The Seraphim looked surprised and glanced down at Merlin, who smiled.

"How is it that you know the name of my son?" the Seraphim asked. Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged obviously not understanding either. The Seraphim looked between them. "I am Oberon, Lord of Avalon. Solaris is my firstborn son. He remains with my wife on Avalon."

"It is a story for perhaps another time," Merlin said gently raising his hand. "To go where you need to go use these symbols," Merlin moved his hand through the air and floating runes appeared. Merlin let his hand come back to rest against his side.

"You must be joking," Hermione said after looking over the runes.

"Why?" Harry asked, "what do they say."

"Hog-warts," Hermione said. Harry couldn't help but shake his head.

"Be warned that such a trip is most dangerous, the flow of time is not to be traveled lightly. You must focus and you must see in your mind, when, you wish to be."

"Okay," Hermione said, "how can you possibly know all this, we haven't told you anything. I know you're a great wizard but…" Merlin waved his hand in the air again.

"Time," Merlin said stirring the air with his hand, "is like a pool of water, if you look at the surface only see your reflection." Harry and Hermione's reflection appeared in the air as though they were looking into a pool of water. "But if you look beyond the now, to the bottom, all illusions become clear and all things, are seen as they really are, reflections in the water." The reflections in the air faded.

Harry was completely lost, was Merlin talking about water or time, or both.

"Hermione," Harry said rubbing his head. "Can we just go?" Hermione nodded Harry was sure she looked just as confused.

"On last thing," Merlin said. "Take heed, time is time, past, present and future are all in motion. Where you should go is not when you left. But where you should be now."

---

The sun was coming up as Harry and Hermione moved towards the outside of the camp and back towards Stonehenge. They had to find Solaris before returning to the future, or the present or what, when, ever the fuck it was.

The search did not take long. Solaris was lying on his side snoring in the same spot they had left him. "Care to do the honors?" Harry asked Hermione. The two of them knelt down next to Solaris. Hermione's hand hovered over the disk.

"Focus on the time we left," Hermione said. "Concentrate. When I press the symbols that's all we should think about."

Harry nodded. Hermione began pressing the symbols that Merlin had shown them. The stone suddenly erupted in a white flash of light. Harry was trying to keep his mind focused, trying to think of the place and time they had left. Light erupted outwards and Harry felt a sudden horrible moment of remembrance. With a burst of flame the three of them vanished.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Dear Readers,

This chapter has been rewritten many times, far more times than I would like. However this is the definitive version. No more changes (save a name or spelling correction) will be made once this is placed on would like to apologize to anyone that had to read the old Chapter 18. We all make mistakes and life goes on no matter how many bad pieces of literature we write.

This whole thing is a learning experience for me. And I learned that crap chapters should stay in the recycle bin where they belong.

That said the pervious chapter that used to be here is no more, so don't bother looking for it. I have to say it wasn't one of my better attempts at writing.

Starwin.

It seems only fitting that this chapter should deal with time travel since its predecessor has been erased from history.

It was such a good idea that I smacked myself in the forehead when one of my dedicated reads said that's what she thought (the time travel part) was going to happen in the chapter, and had been disappointed when it hadn't. So I set out in full force to create this chapter.

After a hard night of typing non stop and humming songs to myself to get words to rhyme you are left with the final version chapter 18, never to be rewritten again.

For those that have NO IDEA what I am talking about, just read on like nothing happened and ignore the crazy rambling of these Author Notes.

It is however a departure from the flow of the story and even though it does deal with events that are important to the over all story think of it more like a bonus chapter because for the life of me I just can't seem to make it fit.

Temporal Paradox Clause:

Hu, what? When but… how?

Who says you can't change the flow of time?

Because this chapter was never really part of the over all plan some MINOR events in the past, that is to say the future, have changed. As such the effective chapters have changed accordingly to comply with the ripple theory. Two, Six and Seven.

The changes are minor, by rereading any of those chapters again you won't gain a deeper insight into the story, they just give me a piece of mind when I sleep at night.

(Temporal adjustment made on June 21, 2005, if you're reading the story after this date your fine)


	19. – Misplaced

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

PLEASE NOTE -- CHAPTER 18 HAS CHANGED

As of June 21, 2005. If you read chapter 18 before that, please read it again because it is NOT THE SAME STORY.

* * *

Chapter 19 – Misplaced

The trip through time was far less smooth then before. When Solaris had first used the stone back in the hospital it had taken a fraction of an instant for them to arrive at their destination. Now the journey was much longer. Harry felt himself being tossed around as though inside some kind of storm. His eyes were open but all he could see was white light Even Hermione and Solaris weren't visible, but Harry knew they were there. He could still feel his hand grasped tightly against Solaris's arm and Hermione's fingers clutching the stone.

White light suddenly exploded outwards and Harry was sent rolling along the ground. His body felt sore. Harry pushed himself up from the wet grass and looked behind him. Hermione and Solaris were lying side by side. Hermione was still holding the round stone in her hand.

It was dark, thick clouds covered the sky above them. There were no other people anywhere insight. Harry shook his head trying to throw the daze from his thoughts.

Getting to his feet Harry moved towards his friends swaying a bit. He had a slight headache but otherwise he felt fine. Harry knelt next to Hermione and shook her gently. He could hear her soft breathing but her eyes remained closed.

"It's just like what happened to Solaris," Harry muttered, looking down at the two of them.

Harry stood and searched the area with his eyes. Much of it looked familiar but not exactly how he remembered it. This was definitely Hogwarts. Using his wand Harry levitated his friends into the air and guided their floating bodies towards the gates to the castle.

The entrance hall was empty but Harry had an ominous feeling about it. Something here wasn't right. The castle was not at all like he remembered it. The hallways were dark and dirty. There was no other way that Harry could think to describe the castle now except for, creepy. It felt like the castle was empty.

Harry met no one as he made his way to the hospital wing. Harry almost dropped the spell holding his friends aloft as he turned down the next corridor. Large blood red letters had been painted on the wall. Harry read the words but couldn't believe what they said. 'Dumbledore's Army.'

'Something is definitely wrong,' Harry thought as he looked around. The rest of the hallway was in disarray. Paintings had been torn from the walls and suits of armor lay in pieces. Something horrible had happened while Harry was gone. Harry walked faster towards the hospital wing. The destruction only became worse as he walked. Walls had deep gashes in them from spells and the floor had stains of, what looked to Harry, like blood.

Windows had been broken and a cold wind blew past every now and then. The sky clouds outside were black and no sunlight found its way past.

Every shadow in the hallway looked deep and dark like a hole that went on forever. Harry kept expecting something to jump out at him or for his eyes to spot movement. But there was nothing but the echo of the wind.

Harry came to a halt at the hospital wing's double doors or at least what was left of them. One was still partially attached to the wall, although many large chunks of it were missing. The other door had been completely torn off and lay on the floor.

Harry peered inside. The hospital itself didn't seem to be much better off than the doors that led to it. Beds were overturned and random objects lay scattered on the floor. It looked like a hurricane had torn the room apart.

In semi-darkness the room felt even more like ghosts were waiting to jump out at any moment. Cautiously, Harry moved into the room. A few of the tall glass windows had been broken.

Setting his friends down on the floor Harry righted some of the beds. They weren't in the best condition for sleeping but they would have to do until Harry could find someone to help.

Harry moved his sleeping friends onto the beds. Here was as safe a place as any to leave them until Harry could find some answers.

Turning, Harry moved towards the door to begin his search of the castle. He stopped at the hospital doors and looked back at Hermione.

It would be better if he kept the stone with him. Harry moved back and took the round stone out of Hermione's hand.

"Don't worry," Harry said putting his own hand on top of hers. "I'll find out what happened."

---

The destruction encompassed the entire castle. The fat lady's portrait was nowhere to be found. The passageway she had guarded to the Gryffindor common room lay open. Beyond it was more destruction. The walls had been tagged in the same red lettering that read, "Dumbledore's Army." The feeling of unease was becoming worse. Harry kept expecting to see bodies or find survivors, but each room yielded the same thing.

Harry tried to picture in his mind what could have happened. Had the DA done all this? It was surprising that Harry could even think so but even still, if it had been someone else who done this, why had the DA written its name in so many places. The wind echoed down the hallways as Harry continued his search. Each room increased the feeling that whatever had happened had been very brutal. No room was untouched, the entire school had been broken apart inside.

Another thought was starting to stir in Harry's mind. What if they had done this, Him and Hermione. What if by changing the past they had caused this to happen. It was only one of thousands of possible explanations. Harry wasn't even sure if it was possible to change the future by changing the past. After all the last time he had traveled through time the events that had happened had already happened.

Maybe they were supposed to have gone back in time and help Merlin. This was really more Hermione's area of expertise. She seemed to know everything after all.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted as he found himself at the stone gargoyle that blocked the path to Dumbledore's office. He wasn't sure what had led him here, he had been lost in his own thoughts.

The Gargoyle stood unbroken. The first thing Harry had seen that was as it should be. Harry ran his hand along it. The gargoyle moved, its head looked down at Harry and it spoke.

"What do you want?" the gargoyle asked it sounded almost bored. Harry was surprised to hear it speak.

"Please," Harry said, "I have to see the headmaster, if he's still here." The gargoyle eyed him as thought it didn't think much of his request or for that matter of anything.

"Yeah, he's here, sitting upstairs just like always." The gargoyle said and then suddenly jumped aside. Harry was confused. Never had a magical guardian object just let him pass without a password. But Harry wasn't going to argue. He walked past and up the stairs that led to Dumbledore's office. The door at the top was unlocked. Without knocking Harry opened it and looked inside.

For the most part, the office was as Harry remembered it, but perhaps it was a bit messier usual. The only damage that seemed to have taken place in this room was to the portraits of the previous headmasters. They were all empty and like in so many other rooms the words 'Dumbledore's Army,' had been painted across them in red. Harry entered. The office seemed to be empty.

"Just a minute," said a voice from the chair at Dumbledore's desk. Harry didn't recognize the voice. The back of the chair was facing him. Harry approached cautiously, his hand on his wand, ready to draw it.

"What can I…" the voice said as the man in the chair turned around to face Harry. Both of them froze. Harry knew his eyes must have been playing tricks on him. The person in the chair couldn't be who Harry thought he was.

"Ron?" Harry asked in disbelief. The man was very old and much of his red hair had turned to gray. His face was beardless and wrinkled. The top of his head was balding and he had become very fat.

"Harry?" Ron asked rising from his chair as though to get a better vantage point over his desk.

"What happened here?" Harry asked, "What happened to you!" The gleam that had existed for a moment in Ron's eyes faded, and he sank back down in the chair like a tired old man.

"What happened?" Ron chuckled darkly. "You're eleven years too late to be asking that, better late then never I guess."

"WHAT?" Harry said, his head looked down at the round stone he held in his hand. It couldn't be, had they traveled into the future by mistake? Was this the future?

"You mean this is eleven years in the future?" Harry asked. Ron laughed again.

"The future?" Ron said, "but I guess that's just like you, always trying to put the blame somewhere else. Never caring about anyone, except yourself. If I was eleven years younger, I'd do what I should of done along time ago and given you a good punch in the face."

"Ron, where's Hermione, Neville… Ginny? What happened to our friends?" Harry asked. "What happened to Hogwarts?" Ron laughed again.

"To our friends?" Ron said shaking his head. "Fine, I'll play your little game. Neville's dead, you killed him. Hermione is insane, she waist her time on Avalon looking for a way to change the past. And Ginny… well I guess you could say you killed her too."

"I would never…" Harry said taking a step away. He was confused, angry and afraid. Ron had to be lying, why would he say such things.

"But you did," Ron spat angry. "You led us all to our deaths. I was one of the lucky ones." Ron pulled up his sleeve, burned into his flesh was the dark mark. Below it was a small black circle. "Voldemort spared my life and I became his servant."

"Ron," Harry said so many emotions were trying to get out that Harry wasn't sure what he felt. "I don't know what happened. Maybe when we return back home none of this will happen because…" Ron laughed again.

"None of this will happen?" Ron said. "Look around you, this is the future. It doesn't matter if you go back, my Master will kill all the same." Harry stiffened. Ron's smile became broader and Harry was sure there was a look of males about him.

"That's right, Harry Potter," Ron sneered. "You're dead too. You lost. All of this is your fault." Ron said standing angry.

"I… my…" Harry stammered.

"It doesn't matter," Ron said sinking back down into his chair. "I've already sent for the Death Eaters and they are coming for you. Run, Harry Potter…" Ron said unpleasantly. "I don't want them to dirty up the floor of my office with your blood."

Harry took a step away from Ron and then turned sprinting towards the hospital wing.

---

'This can't be real,' Harry thought to himself as he sprinted down the hallways towards the hospital wing. Tears were stinging his face. 'This can't be the future! That wasn't Ron!'

But questions came just as fast, 'Why? Why wasn't it real? Merlin had been real. Arthur had been real. What made this any different from the past?'

'Because none of it has happened,' Harry though angry. 'None of it…'

'Hasn't it?' His mind shot back. 'Doesn't your friendship drift apart?'

Harry skidded to a halt as voices echoed from the hallways in front of him. He was at the end of the hall that led to the gates of Hogwarts. Harry looked down around the corner. On the first floor of the entry area was a huge group of Death Eaters, masked in black, so many of them that Harry couldn't count them all. A man with white hair stood at the front of the group shouting orders. Harry could only see the back of his head but he was sure he knew who it was, Malfoy. And behind him, at the front of the group was a death eater that stood out from all the rest.

For a moment Harry thought it might be Voldemort, but that thought was quickly abandoned. This death eater was defiantly female. Her body was slender and her breast more than apparent in her black outfit, that was much different from the rest of the death eaters. The arms and legs had been removed, it almost seemed like she was wearing a black one-piece bathing suit. Black twisting tattoos adorned the pale skin of her arms and legs. But her face was not visible behind the black mask and hood that she wore.

"You," Malfoy shouted pointing to a group of death eaters, "to the headmaster's office, find out what he knows. The group broke away and Malfoy was shouting at the last of the death eaters to spread out, sending some back outside. Only Malfoy and the female death eater remained in the hallway now. Malfoy turned and Harry could see an ugly scar down the side of his face. Harry held his breath as he watched transfixed. For some reason he couldn't understand, he wanted to listen, wanted to hear what they were going to talk about now that they were alone.

Malfoy moved very close to the female death eater as she looked slowly around the entry area. Her black masked face was looking about as thought she expected to spot someone hiding here. Harry could see that her mask didn't even have eye holes.

"You're orders, Master?" Malfoy asked quietly. The woman waved a hand but didn't speak any words.

"There is a strange feeling here," the woman said slowly. Harry was sure the voice sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. Her head suddenly turned to the spot where Harry was hiding. If her eyes had been visible, Harry was sure that the two of them would have been staring each other down.

"YOU! STOP!" Someone shouted from hall behind Harry. Harry turned his head to see a group of death eaters racing towards him with their wands drawn. There was no other place to go but across the entry area. It was the most direct route to the hospital wing anyhow.

Harry launched himself at full sprint. Malfoy had drawn his wand and was running up the stairs after Harry. The woman however did not move, she merely watched with an expressionless mask. Spells filled the air around him. Harry turned the corner and pressed his back against the wall. He only had one chance. He wouldn't be able to keep this pace up for very long.

Defense was the best strategy here. Pulling his wand out Harry concentrated for a second then tapped himself on the head. He felt like he had just cracked an egg on forehead. A cold feeling ran down his body. Harry pressed himself against the wall hoping that the disillusionment charm had worked correctly. Moments later, death eaters burst around the corner and raced past Harry towards the end of the hall. Harry waited a long moment until all the death eaters had vanished around the corner before he stepped away from the wall. Harry turned, intending to return to the path that would take him to the hospital wing.

"Don't move." Harry froze. He was looking down the wand of a moderately aged Malfoy. Apart from the scar he seemed to be much better off than Ron. His hair had not gone white but silver instead. His face was still fair and although he was completely wrinkled, he looked like he couldn't be more than thirty or so.

"Well," Malfoy said. "You were the last person I expected to run into again, Potter." Malfoy flicked his wand and Harry felt air race past his skin as the disillusionment charm was pulled away. "I never got to thank you properly for this." Malfoy ran a finger down the scar, as a malicious smile cross his face.

"Cursio," Malfoy snarled. With lighting speed Harry moved to the side. He let the stone fall from his hand as he turned his body to let the spell rush past. Malfoy raised his wand in surprise and let out a cry of shock. Harry stepped in and his fist connected with the side of Malfoy's face. Malfoy staggered back and Harry swung again with his other hand. Blood flew into the air this time. As Malfoy fell onto his butt, blood trickled down from his lip. With a sharp movement Harry struck the wand from his hand and it skidded away across the floor.

"You're too predictable," Harry said standing over Malfoy. "It's always the same tricks with you." A sneer crossed Malfoy's face and Harry felt a leg impact hard with his own. Malfoy lunged at him. The two of them collided with the ground. Harry brought his knee up into Malfoy's stomach and hit him in the face with an elbow. Malfoy rolled off with a howl of pain. Harry rolled the other way coming up with his wand out. Malfoy was on his hands and knees. The scar on the side of his face had split open and was red with blood. Malfoy looked defiantly at Harry and then looked the other direction at his wand lying not more than an arms length from him.

Harry knew what Malfoy was thinking. "Don't," Harry said extending his wand out all the way. Malfoy lunged for his fallen wand. "_Avada Kedavra_!" Harry shouted. Green light raced from the end of Harry's wand and struck Malfoy in the back, his body fell limp against the ground.

That hadn't been the spell he had meant to cast at all. But now that it was done, Harry didn't feel remorse for taking a life. Harry slid his wand back into his pocket and picked the stone up from the ground where he had dropped it. He tucked the stone into the waistband of his pants and stepped over Malfoy's body, continuing towards the hospital wing.

---

The distant shouts of the death eaters followed Harry as he moved through the halls. Once or twice he took cover in a classroom, or a secret passage. The death eaters passed right by. It was unsettling. They didn't seem to be looking very hard for him. Harry waited quietly in the nook next to the hospital wing as a group of death eaters walked past, not even glancing around. Harry moved out as they progressed down the hallway, his eyes following them. He entered into the hospital wing.

For a moment Harry feared that the reason they might have passed it by was because they already had Solaris and Hermione, but that wasn't the case at all. Both of them were lying on the beds where Harry had left them. Harry moved into the hospital wing and reached for the stone tucked against his side. It was time to get the hell out of here. They had to go back and stop this.

"So, it really is you," said a voice from the doorway. Harry spun around and whipped out his wand. A hand closed around his wrist, pulling Harry's arm away from his body and pointing the wand at the floor. Another hand wrapped around his throat squeezing it hard.

Harry was looking into the black masked face of the female death eater he had seen in the entryway. Harry struggled trying to pull himself free but her grip was solid and did not falter. The hand around his throat tightened and Harry felt himself being lifted from the ground. Harry stopped struggling. "It's been a long time since anyone besides me has killed a death eater," the woman said. Again that voice that sounded so familiar. A voice Harry couldn't place. The woman wrenched Harry's hand and his wand dropped to the floor.

"But I thought you would have put up more of a fight," the woman said, Harry could hear her smile behind the black mask. "What's the matter, Harry? To frightened to speak?" She tossed him to the ground. Harry coughed rubbing his throat. His wand was lying next to the death eater who stood watching him. She didn't look down at the wand but she seemed to know where Harry was looking.

"Take it," the women said not moving. There was no wand in her hand. Harry looked at her defiantly, there was anger starting to boil inside him. She was mocking him. Without thinking Harry lunged towards the wand. A foot connected with his side and Harry rolled away colliding with the wall. The woman laughed. Harry tasted blood in his mouth and he spit it out onto the ground. Harry turned his head looking up at the woman.

"You should have stayed dead," the woman said. Her foot stepped on Harry's wand and with a fast twist the wand snapped with a heartbreaking crack. Rage exploded inside Harry. His wand wasn't just a possession, it was part of him! Harry screamed as he launched himself up at the woman. Her fist collided with the side of his head and Harry went rolling again. Harry pushed himself up from the floor. His left eye hurt very badly and he couldn't see out it very well.

"That's what I liked about you, Harry," The woman said. "You don't quit, you don't give up. Your way is the only way." Harry made to rush forward again. He felt a fist impact with his side Harry ignored the pain. This charge was for all or nothing and Harry had put his full weight behind it. The woman let out a cry of surprise as she fell to the ground. Harry landed on her chest, his weight pinning her.

"GET OFF!" The woman cried angrily. Harry felt a knee impact in his back. Harry's hand reached out and took hold of the mask. "NO, GET OFF!" Harry tugged the mask from her face and Ginny's eyes, filled with rage and angry, looked defiantly up into his. Her face contorted with hate.

"HOW DARE YOU LOOK AT ME!" she shouted struggling underneath Harry. Harry couldn't understand it, she didn't look old at all--not exactly the same as he remembered her but her face was still young. Her hand broke free and she shoved Harry off her. She came to her knees. Her eyes narrowed. The black tattoos on her arms began to change color, to become red. Fire burned around her skin. Harry looked sadly up at her.

"Gin," Harry said. The fire did not vanish but Harry was sure her expression of hate on her face softened. "I'm sorry."

"How dare you call me that," Ginny spat the fire around her body burned more fiercely. "You were always sorry. Sorry for everything. But it doesn't matter how many times you say you're sorry. You never change. You only think of yourself."

"I can stop this," Harry said his eyes locked with Ginny's. "I can go back, and we can fight Voldemort and win." Ginny began to laugh.

"Voldemort?" Ginny said. "Voldemort didn't kill you last time," Ginny said. "I did." Harry felt his stomach drop out. All the punches and kicks he had taken from Ginny didn't hurt nearly as much as what she just said. He couldn't believe it.

"What?" Harry said shocked. "You…?"

"Yes, and then I killed Voldemort too." Ginny said standing the rest of the way. The fire that had sprung out around her was subsiding and the tattoos became black again.

"Why?" Harry asked. He was still unable to stand his legs felt like jello.

"Because I wanted power," Ginny closed her fist as she looked down at her arm. "And I have found power." The tattoos on her arms began to move like snakes. They uncoiled off her arms and hovered in the air around her body, still connected to her. "Power enough to destroy you and everything else, forever!"

The fire erupted again and the floating tattoos merged together to become a giant black pillar of shadows. Red glowing eyes opened on its front as it looked down. A mouth spread across it. The mouth began to speak in murmurs. Ginny was no longer watching him, her eyes were closed and her arms rose towards the sky. The black pillar of shadows spun faster and faster. Wind raced through the hospital wing. Harry pulled the stone out from his waistband; he was going to put an end to all of this. Harry forced his way against the wind to the bedsides of Hermione and Solaris.

Harry rested the round stone on Hermione's stomach and put his other hand on Solaris. He needed to remember the symbols, to think of the place and time he wanted to go. He had to keep focused. Solaris's head rose from the pillow. His eyes had no pupils in them. Solaris began to speak. "_Mori tempest abs fineta, et intravalya… Mori tempest abs fineta, et intravalya…_" he chanted. Harry looked back at the stone. Hermione turned her head, her eyes opening. Like Solaris she had no pupils. Her hand reached out and took Harry's.

"Think of a time and place," she said as she moved his hand around the stone to the symbols. "Remember that time is always in motion." Harry's finger moved over the last symbol.

The wind was roaring inside the hospital room now. A growl came from the spinning pillar, Harry looked up at it. Red eyes rotated around pillar like a turning head. The glowing eyes looked down upon Harry.

"Time is eternal, I am eternal. What has happened, has happened and will happen again. The past is written in stone. Nothing you do can change the future. Time is eternal…" the black pillar repeated.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Harry said his finger pressed hard on the last rune, his mind thinking only of going back to undo all of this.

* * *

Authors (my definitive word resource) defines Author as: 'The writer of a book, or article' and Note: 'A comment or an explanation, as on a passage in a text'

It has therefore come to light that I am not an Author and these are not notes. As such I have decided to rename this section to be, 'Another Useless Typing Human On Redbull Sitting Near (an) Open (lap)Top Eating Sandwiches' to which had this to impart: 'Starwin'

So, on with what I have ingenuously condensed to, Authors Notes… yeah… bet you didn't see that coming.

That's chapter 19 for you. I hope you liked it. It sort of all came together after the rewrite of chapter 18 (which if you didn't know got rewritten). The downside to all this is that I am a bit behind. I should be putting up chapter 20 today, not 19, so I will have to work some double time to catch up again. (HAHAHAHA)

More notes coming when I can think of something important to say!

20 and 21 will be coming soon I promises... my precious…


	20. – Legion Ex Voldemort

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 20 – Legion Ex Voldemort

Slowly, Harry opened his eyes. The world was unfocused without his glasses on but he knew where he was. He had seen this ceiling more times then he cared to remember.

Reaching out to the nightstand he found his glasses and pulled them onto his face. The hospital wing snapped into view around him. For one horrible moment he had feared that they had not made it back. He did not remember the trip home but everything appeared as it should be. No beds were overturned and the sheets were white and clean.

Harry sat up. His ribs were sore. At the moment the hospital wing seemed to be void of anyone but him. Harry considered leaving but the pain of his bruises still hurt very much.

The creaking of the hospital wing door drew Harry attention away from his pain. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville had all appeared at the door. They were talking and laughing with one another. Harry couldn't help but smile as he saw them.

Ginny's eyes widened as she spotted Harry sitting up in his bed. Without waiting for the others she sprinted across the room to Harry and crushed him in a hug round his middle. Harry grunted in pain. Ginny let him go and took a step back looking shyly down at the floor.

"You're not still mad at me?" Ginny asked not looking up. Harry wasn't sure how to feel. The last thing he remembered was her trying to kill him. But he couldn't really hold her accountable for things she hadn't done yet. What if by saying yes, he had caused her to become evil or even by not saying it?

"No, Gin," Harry said with a smile. It wasn't the whole truth but for the moment it was close enough. The rest of his friends arrived at the foot of his bed.

"Well, looks like you left me out of all the fun again!" Ron said in mock anger. "Merlin and King Arthur! I can't believe I missed it!" Harry tried to force a smile. He couldn't believe most of it either. Hermione had obviously already told them about their trip but she hadn't told them all of it.

Maybe she didn't remember the trip to the future. But hadn't she and Solaris been awake right before they left? Perhaps she just didn't want to talk about it, Harry certainly didn't.

Something about the way Hermione was smiling that made Harry felt like she was trying to hide something. In fact now that he thought about it, everyone, except Ginny, who was still looking sheepishly at the floor, had an uneasy smile on their face as though they had something to tell Harry that would make him very mad.

Maybe Hermione had told them about the future and they were all horrified that it was Harry's fault. But how much could she really know about it? She had been asleep almost the whole time.

"What?" Harry asked uneasily when no one came forward to speak the secret.

"There's something else…" Hermione said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the two halves of Harry's wand. Harry felt his heart lurch in his chest. He had forgotten about that. No, he hadn't forgotten he just hadn't wanted to believe it was true.

Seeing his wand actually broken before him confirmed all the horrible events he had seen. Up until now, part of him had been hoping it had all been a dream.

"When I brought us back from the past," Hermione said. "We sort of, uh, appeared a little higher off the ground than I thought. Your wand… I'm so sorry Harry…" Hermione handed the wand parts out to Harry. He took them, confused.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

"You must have landed on it or something mate," Ron said. "You did kind of fall out of the sky. Even have a shiner to prove it." Ron said pointing at Harry's face. Reflexively Harry raised his hand to his eye and felt a bruise around it.

"This didn't happen from a fall," Harry said looking defiantly up at his friends and holding out his wand. "It happened in the future." The words had just sort of come out. His friends were all looking uneasily at him. He hadn't wanted to bring this up. He didn't want to tell them about the things he had seen. But now that he had said he felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his chest.

Hermione glanced sideways at Ron and then back at Harry.

"No," Hermione said. "We couldn't have."

"You don't remember because you were asleep, just like Solaris was after we went to the past." Harry said. All of his friends were looking at him uncertainly.

"No, Harry," Hermione said. "I mean we couldn't have because you can't travel into the future."

"What?" Harry said, that sounded like the strangest thing he had ever heard. "Didn't we just travel into the past and then back into the future?"

"No, not exactly," Hermione said. "We traveled into the past and returned to the present. It's technically the future of that past, yes, but it's our present, not our future. Time travel just doesn't work that way. There are very few objects that can move you through time, like time turners. But time turners only send you backwards, and even then not very far. There are other magical objects that can move you back and forth between times, but never beyond the point you started from."

"But I saw the future, it was just like the vision I had on Avalon." Harry said. For the first time Ginny looked up. Hermione's face tightened. Both Ron and Neville looked clueless. "My wand was broken in the future by…" Harry's eyes betrayed him as they flicked to Ginny. "…by a death eater and these bruises are from the future." Harry said trying to make his friends understand.

"Maybe you should tell us about the dream," Hermione asked. Harry took a deep breath looking around at his friends. He wasn't sure he wanted to recount the story.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Harry said.

"You don't have to tell us everything," Hermione said looking at the others.

"Yeah," Ron said quickly. "I mean what's the worst that could happened? I'm not bald and fat am I." Ron chuckled. Harry managed a weak smile but there was laughing inside him some place.

"Just tell us what you feel comfortable sharing," Hermione said, her eyes flicked to Ginny too and Harry was sure she already knew the reason Harry didn't want to talk about it. "You saw something bad about me didn't you? And its not going to come true, I'm not stranded on Avalon am I?"

"I'm still not sure it was a dream," Harry said. "It felt very real."

"Maybe we should just let Harry have some time," Ginny said looking at the others. "If he doesn't want to talk about it then we shouldn't make him!"

Harry thought for a long moment. "No," Harry said at last. His eyes were very determined. "If I didn't tell you, then I would be just like Dumbledore. If it is a vision of the future you all have a right to know."

His friends listened as he recounted the events of the future. However untrue to his word Harry omitted mentioning that the Death Eater he had fought at the end of the dream had been Ginny. Harry finished, his friends sat wide eyed.

"I'm bald!" Ron said. "Harry, you're joking! Please tell me you're joking!"

"Ron," Hermione said rubbing her head, "Please…"

"It does sound very much like the journey of truth you had on Avalon." Hermione said, "Oberon said it wasn't the future you saw then, and I don't think it was the future you saw this time either. The journey of truth is usually an answer to a question. But it's sort of odd, because I mean we aren't on Avalon."

"But my wand!" Harry said holding out the broken pieces. "How did it break if we didn't go into the future."

"You said that the death eater broke it under her foot?" Ginny asked. Harry swallowed hard and nodded. "Did you get it back before you left?" Harry pulled the piece back to him and looked down at the splintered halves. He hadn't retrieved it, there had been no time.

"No," Harry said. How had his wand come back with him?

"It's because you didn't go into the future," Ginny said she sounded a little annoyed.

"But what if I did! Shouldn't I take try and prevent it from happening!" Harry said. Hermione shook her head. "If I can figure out what things went wrong in the past I can…"

"Second guessing yourself can only make things worse." Hermione said, interrupting Harry. "Have you ever heard the story of the midnight meeting in London?" Harry shook his head. "A man in Scotland was out walking one day, when he noticed Death beckoning to him from across the road. Fearing what would happen if he stayed in Scotland, the man rushed home, got his car and drove as fast as he could to London.

"As he closed his door to his hotel room there was a knock upon it. It was Death. The man asked why Death had been beckoning to him earlier that day in Scotland. Death replied that he had not been beckoning the man, he had merely been confused as to why the man had been in Scotland because he knew they had a meeting in London tonight."

"Hermione, what does that have to do with anything!" Ron said.

Harry had to agree with Ron, Hermione's story didn't make much sense to him either. They weren't in London or Scotland and Death wasn't beckoning Harry anywhere.

Hermione sighed. "It means," Hermione said agitated, "that second guessing yourself is really what leads you to destruction. You might have seen the future, you might not have. The point is that we make our own future, by trying to second guess around events that haven't happened you might very well make them happen."

"You don't expect me to do nothing?" Harry said.

"I didn't say that," Hermione said pointedly. "I just meant that you shouldn't think the future is written in stone."

---

Madam Pomfrey informed Harry later that night that he was fit enough to leave. Harry still wasn't sure how it was possible but it still seemed only to be Sunday. Harry felt as though it should be more like Christmas.

The rest of the week went without much out of the ordinary. Harry had half expected brain eating slugs to march on the school, or something to that effect. However nothing of the sort happened and Harry was left with actual classes and schoolwork.

The only real trouble was that Harry no longer had a wand to practice with in class and the first chance he would have to go to Olivanders to get a new wand was months away.

Harry still had not thrown his old wand out, someplace inside he hoped that it was still possible to repair it. But Harry had a sinking feeling that it was most likely impossible. The words Hermione had told him in the hospital wing still sat uneasily. He wasn't sure he fully understood what she had meant.

Monday was possibly one of the worst days of Harry's life. Snape had found a potion so hard to make that Hermione had barely been able to complete it. Care of Magical creatures had been canceled, due to Hagrid's unexplained absence and Harry had to endure a two hour session of Defense against the Dark Arts class, which to his horror was being taught by Snape.

For a few horrible moments Harry thought that Snape would try to do what he had done to Professor Lupin and assign reading on Seraphims. But it turned out to be much worse than that. Apparently Solaris had asked Snape to teach the class because this week they would be studying magical defense and illusion potions. Which meant that Monday consisted of one very long potions class.

Harry was also reminded, by Hermione, about the large amount of homework he had been neglecting. It wasn't his fault, really. So much had been going on that homework had just sort of taken a back seat. However by Wednesday Hermione's nagging was so insistent that Harry finally buckled down and started on it just to give his ears a rest.

Harry was also surprised by the way Ginny was acting. She seemed to have gotten over their fight on the field much quicker than Harry would have expected. She wasn't as bright and cheery as normal was but she wasn't totally ignoring Harry either. They still sat together at breakfast and did homework at the same table at night, but she almost never looked at him any more and her smiles always seemed to be missing something. Harry wasn't sure if it was Ginny or him who was different. Either way Harry felt uncomfortable around her.

At last, in what Harry was sure had to be the longest week of his life, Thursday finally came. After the long assortment of classes, his first Quidditch practice, with his new team, arrived. It was horrible. Harry had never seen players so bad before. The chasers kept dropping the Qualfful. The beaters kept sending bludgers at the chasers and even Ron seemed to be having trouble blocking easy shots from getting past him.

Thirty minutes into the practice one of the beaters sent a bludger into a chaser and knocked her off her broom. Harry's quick flying was all that saved her from the severe injury of a fifty foot fall. Through a bloody nose and a red face she announced that she didn't want to play any more. Harry had spent the next twenty minutes yelling at the beater that had hit his own teammate. He too finally decided that Quidditch was not for him.

Not wanting to lose any more players Ron suggested that they end practice for the day, pointing out that they did not have enough players anyhow to continue. Harry agreed but did not follow the rest of his team into locker room. Instead he remained on the field trying to replay in his mind what had gone wrong. But the same conclusion kept coming to him, his team was just bad. They would have to hold tryouts again this Saturday for another chaser and a new beater.

Harry slammed his fist into the ground. One practice down and only five more until their first match against Slytherin. At this rate Harry couldn't see how they were going to win.

---

Harry did not go to divination on Friday. He'd had enough of seeing the future and sitting in a room with Professor Trelawney hovering over him, speaking in her mystical voice only supported Harry in his decision.

Harry had also not found time to get ready for the DA meeting nor was he sure how he was going to conduct it without a wand. All week long Harry had felt his wand's absence. He felt naked without it. Like part of him was lost. He had expected attacks from every side but not even Malfoy seemed to be paying attention to Harry this week.

With his free time from the missed Divination class Harry snuck to the room or requirement and pulled down as many books as he could stomach.

They had many new members that still needed training. They also had many members who were advanced and should be made commanders so that they could start teaching others. But Harry hadn't even taken the time to review the list.

Harry jumped when the door opened and Ron, Hermione and Ginny all appeared. He hadn't found anything new or exciting to teach to the students yet. And certainly nothing that didn't require a wand.

"So this is where you've been hiding?" Ron asked. "Ah Harry you missed a great divination lesson." Ron beamed. Harry looked up unable to believe what he had just heard. "Trelawney tried to enchant this piece of paper and she set it on fire! Course she said it was a dark omen, but most of the class couldn't stop laughing so she let us out early. Oh Harry the look on her face."

Harry smiled weakly.

"So," Hermione asked coming and sitting down near Harry, Ron and Ginny did the same. "What's the plan for tonight?"

"I don't know yet," Harry said closing the book he'd been reading. "I don't really have a plan."

"Well," Hermione said, "I have our new message system ready."

"And I guess I can start forming up squads," Ron said looking uneasily at Hermione. The two of them seemed agitated for some reason. Most likely they were just nervous about the meeting.

Harry looked at Ginny expecting her to have something to say as well but her eyes were focused elsewhere, not really looking at Harry. She had been like that all week long. She had been there but someplace else--only talking when spoken too and never really looking at Harry or anyone else, as if she had tuned the world out. It was starting to get on his nerves.

"Ginny?" Harry asked. She didn't look up as she spoke.

"I don't have anything important to present yet, but I am working on it." Ginny said. Harry nodded. He was worried about her. There had been times throughout the week where he had considered sitting Ginny down and telling her everything about the dream. But Harry just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I think we need to start breaking up the meetings again. Every Friday is just what we've fallen into but it isn't enough time for us to get new things ready." Harry said.

"Well, luckily," Hermione said pulling something from her pocket. "I have our new message system ready. Here let me show you how it works."

Hermione produced a piece of parchment, two quills and a bottle of ink. She handed one of the quills to Harry then dipped her quill into the ink bottle and began to write.

Harry watched Hermione write the upside-down words. Finally she finished and with a quick tap of the quill the words vanished from the parchment. A moment later the quill in Harry's hand began to vibrate slightly. Harry looked at Hermione confused.

"Go on, write with it," Hermione smiled. Harry touched his quill to the paper and began to write. The words that were coming out were not the words he was writing, they were different.

'The magical pens of Dumbledore's Army,' Harry lifted the quill. The color of the ink was also different. The ink in the bottle had been black but the words were green.

"It's a magical message spell. It copies any message written into the mater pen to the rest. Instead of sending just numbers to our members we can send them fulllength messages. And they can even write us back!" Hermione reached across the paper with her quill and ran a line through the words Harry had just wrote and whispered, 'eradacus.' The words sunk into the parchment and vanished.

Harry had to admit that he was impressed. "Alright," Harry said feeling much more sure about the meeting now, "Let's get set up."

---

It was the first thing all week long that had gone right. Harry was most impressed with Hermione's quill idea and it seemed many of the students were too. But Ron was the real surprise.

With courage that Harry had never seen before, Ron quickly separated members into squads and announced commanders. Harry was even more surprised that Ron had made Ginny a commander. He knew she had asked to be one but it was the last thing he'd expected Ron to do.

The DA was starting to feel like a real army--like they were really taking important steps forward. But Harry still couldn't shake the feeling uneasy. The nightmarish future, dream or not, still weighed heavily on his thoughts.

Harry was still questioning himself. He knew what he had seen was the future, even if it was a dream, and yet he had taken no steps to change it. Every time he thought about saying something Hermione's strange story ran through his head. Each time it seemed to make more and more sense.

At last the meeting came to an end and members departed from the room.

"Well that went very well," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Ron said coming over. The courage and fearlessness Ron had had throughout the whole meeting seemed to have vanished.

"Have you thought about getting a new wand yet?" Hermione asked. She had been asking Harry this all week long. And every time Harry had avoided the question.

"No," Harry said. "I was just thinking I would have it repaired or something."

"That's not the sort of thing you can repair," Hermione said. "Once a wand is broken it loses much of its magic. You'll have to get a new one."

"Is there anything you don't know," Ron asked irritably. Hermione turned on him.

"Only how you continue to speak without any brains in your head," Hermione snapped back. The two friends faced each other like enemies.

"No brains in my head?" Ron snarled back. "At least I'm not a stuck up bitch like you!" Ron turned and stormed out of the room. Harry stood dumb struck, unsure what had just happened. Hermione turned back to him like nothing had happened.

"I think you should send a letter to Mr. Olivander and ask about…" Hermione continued calmly.

"Hermione!" Harry blurted out, "What the hell was that?" Harry said gesturing after Ron who slammed the door to the room.

"It's nothing," Hermione said waving it off. "Ron just can't accept things the way they are."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked. Hermione's cheeks warmed.

"Excuse me," Said a Slytherin boy, who looked like he was a sixth year. Harry hadn't even noticed him still in the room. "I need to talk to you."

"In a minute," Harry said more harshly than he had meant to.

"Please, its really important," the boy pressed.

"Alright," Harry said closing his eyes and waving his hands praying to find calm. Even though he had accepted the idea of Slytherin members the reality hadn't fully sunk in yet. "What?"

"Last Sunday Draco Malfoy approached me," the boy said. Everything rushed out of Harry's head and all he could suddenly think about was that the DA had been exposed. Harry looked around to see if anyone was listening. Other than Ginny everyone except himself, the boy and Hermione had left. Ginny was putting cushions away ignoring the three of them.

"He said he was starting a club and he wanted me to join," the boy said. Harry remained silent thinking. Anything that Malfoy was doing couldn't be good news.

"Did he tell you anything about the club, Morag?" Hermione asked. Morag looked around as though someone might be listening.

"Yeah, a dark arts club," Morag said his face looked a little paler than usual. "And they're calling it the Legion Ex… Ex you-know-who."

"What?" Harry said. "The Legion Ex Voldemort?" Morag shuttered at the name, but nodded.

"Interesting," Hermione said. Harry looked at her, Hermione's behavior tonight had been most odd. She had said "interesting" like she really meant, fascinating. "Well, I mean that. First, they pick a name which everyone is afraid to say, even Malfoy. And second they pick a title that is almost the opposite of ours. The Legion of Voldemort? Were Dumbledore's Army, I mean it's really uncanny. It most likely means that they know about the DA and that it's still active." Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"What did you tell him?" Harry asked.

"I said I would have to think on it, I was too afraid to tell him no." Morag said.

"I don't think you should tell him no," Harry said.

"What, you aren't seriously saying he should join Malfoy's club?" Hermione said in surprise.

"Malfoy may have handed us a golden opportunity." Harry said. "Placement of a spy inside his group. But," Harry looked pointedly at Morag. "It has to be your decision, I won't order you to do this if you don't want to. It will be very dangerous. And if you're found out they might kill you." Morag looked at Harry, thinking for a moment and then took a deep breath.

"When you asked if I was ready to die for what I believed in I said, yes," Morag said determinedly. "If you think this is something that will help us win the battle against you-know-who, then I am ready." Harry nodded and put his hand on Morag's shoulder.

"Alright, let's work out the plan," Harry said.

---

Harry lay restless in his bed that night. The thoughts of what he had just done still weighed heavy upon him. He had sent a fellow student, a member of the DA into something very dangerous. Harry wasn't sure he would be able to get the boy out of if things went badly.

Harry turned his head to look over at Ron's bed again. It was empty. There was worry in Harry's head for Ron too. Why hadn't he come back yet, where had he gone?

Harry closed his eyes trying to clear his mind. But thoughts kept drifting in on him. He wasn't sure when the wonderings finally became dreams.

---

Harry wasn't sure where he was. He didn't recognize the room he was in. A stab of pain coursed through his scar. Harry touched his hand to it and found blood on his fingertips. Evil laughter echoed off the walls. Something was coming. Harry whirled about, his wand coming to bare, but his wand was broken. The face of Snape appeared out of the shadows. His hands were behind his back like he was hiding something.

"_Upon the Hour between the days the dark lord he does go,_" Snape spoke the words like they were a taunt. "_What he seeks he soon shall find unguarded and alone. The boy who lived shall lose tonight the love that he holds dear. The shadows will again be free again at five past the New Year." _Snape said as he walked. Harry wasn't sure what he was talking about, it was something he had heard before. A riddle? No a prophecy. But he had prevented it, hadn't he? Voldemort had been after Hermione and Harry had saved her.

Snape stopped in front of Harry, his hands coming out from behind his back. In his open palm was a beating heart. Blood pumped from it onto the floor. Snape seemed to be offering the heart to Harry. Harry reached out and took it. As his hand closed around it the heart stopped beating. The outside became black and turned to ash in Harry's hand. Wind blew across lifting the ash into the sky.

Snape took a step away. Shadows cloak him and his eyes began to glow red. It was a form that Harry had seen far too many times. "Time is eternal, I am eternal. What has happened, has happened and will happen again. The past is written in stone. Nothing you do can change the future." The same dark voice said.

"No," Harry said angrily. "You're wrong, none of it has happened, time is not written in stone."

The monster took a step forward. Beneath it was Ginny, naked. She made no attempt to cover her exposed body. But Harry did not find any of this arousing. Blood ran down from her eyes as though she was crying it and her body looked beaten with bruises. Harry staggered away. Ginny reached out an arm and the shadow monster behind her did the same.

Harry felt the claw of the shadow monster close upon his bicep. Pain exploded in Harry's head. Harry pulled away. The arm of his robe had been burned away. Strange black marking spiraled down his arm. With a rush of fear he sat up in bed. His scar was on fire. Harry touched it with his hand. Something wet was there. Harry reached over to the nightstand and turned the light on. It was blood on his fingertips. His scar had never bled before.

There was also pain in his left arm, hidden away by the fire in his forehead. Harry pulled up the sleeve of his nightshirt but there was nothing on his arm, not even redness. Harry flexed his arm as though checking to make sure it still worked. Harry fell back into his bed, his head turning instinctively towards Ron's bed. It was still empty.

---

Harry held his robe tightly against his arm as he stood on the Quidditch field looking across the players that had shown up. There was nothing wrong with it, but for some reason Harry felt like his arm was unclean.

The dream was still vivid in Harry's mind. No matter how much he tried to make it go away the image remained. Throughout the day Harry had been checking his arm to make sure that the marks had not really appeared upon it. Telling Hermione about the dream did not appeal to him. She was his friend and he knew she would listen but he also knew she might tell the teachers about it, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen.

Harry turned his mind to the task at hand, finding a new beater and chaser. Most of the faces were familiar and Harry had a sinking feeling that this tryout would not have much better results than the last. It was almost time to start and Ron still had not shown up. Harry was starting to become worried about him. Without much other choice Harry began trying out Gryffindors for the positions of beater and chaser.

The turnout for the second set of Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts was much smaller this time. Word seemed to have gotten out that the team wasn't doing very well. The day concluded with a new beater, a fourth year named Melanie Boil. Harry had to admit that she was a rare find. Four times out of five she could send a bludger into a target. Harry was very impressed.

They had not, however, found a new chaser for the team. All of the students that had come to try out were horrible. Most couldn't even catch the Qualful on the ground let alone in the air. As Harry finally dismissed the last of the chasers, telling them he would think about it, Ron finally appeared on the field. He looked like he had been awake all night long. His clothing was in disarray and his face was dirty.

"Ron," Harry said taking his friend by the shoulder, "What happened to you mate, I was worried when you didn't come back last night."

Ron looked away and shrugged.

"It's nothing," Ron said. Harry knew it wasn't nothing but he also knew the more he pushed at Ron the tighter his lips would become.

"I don't know what we are going to do about the team," Harry said changing the subject. The last of the Gryffindor students vanish back into the castle. "We're still down a chaser and from what I saw today I'm not sure we're going to find one and have time to train them before the match with Slytherin."

"Well," Ron said darkly. "You could ask Ginny." There was a moment of anger in Harry but it passed quickly. After of the things he had seen, his feeling about Ginny seemed all mixed up inside him.

"I'm not sure we have any other choice," Harry said. "At least we found a great beater though." Harry proceeded to tell Ron about Melanie. Ron nodded but Harry could tell he was barely listening.

"Look, Ron," Harry said, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

Ron swallowed very hard and his face became sullen.

"It's, it's Hermione," Ron blurted out. Harry nodded. This was ground he didn't want to walk on. He knew that Ron and Hermione and tried the dating thing a couple times. He wasn't sure how much further than that it went but he wasn't sure he wanted to know. What she and Ron did was their business.

"She told me…" there were tears in Ron's eyes now. Had they been fighting? It sure had seemed like it last night. But Harry had never seen it that bad before, usually after a fight they just didn't talk to each other. "She told me… she didn't feel the same way… and… and… Harry she dumped me!" Ron blurted out.

Harry sat dumbstruck. Of all the things he had been expecting to hear that was not one of them. Ron and Hermione always seemed to be fighting like they were married.

"You probably just did something to make her mad, I'm sure she didn't…" Harry said putting his arm on his friends back. He wasn't really sure what to do here. He had never seen Ron like this before. Ron had his head in his hands crying into it them.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Every chapter is important to the story and each part adds new important information critical to the ending. As much as I would like to make the next chapter a summary of all the events up to the end (because I want to write the ending sooooo badly) I cannot without killing the story.

I know some of it doesn't make a whole lot of sense at the moment, that lots of questions have yet to be answered but I am getting there.

A minor note on pervious AN's in chapter 18. When I was making a joke of the ripple theory of time I meant that I was merely changing some parts in previous chapters to better match the story. If I had the time I would liked to have written this all out before publication however, since I am putting it up in bits and pieces as I get them written some things are bound to change. Hey this is FREE, I'm not doing this for any reason other than I enjoy writing.

Again thanks for reading (and reviewing). Criticism is always welcome! Don't be afraid to give it. I would much rather be told that something is bad and work to make it better, than be lied to, that it is good, and be thought of as a fool. Flaming of course is never welcome and criticism without cause will draw the wrath of the vengeful god Bob down on your house. (did you know BOB spelled backwards is BOB? And inside out is )BB(, crazy isn't it?)

With that said onto chapter 21!


	21. – Close to Home

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 21 – Close to Home

Harry couldn't recall when their friendship had ever been strained so badly as it was now. It was almost like Hermione and Ron had switched bodies, an idea that Harry wasn't sure he was really ready to dismiss yet. Hermione was angry all the time when Ron was around and Ron always looked like he was on the edge of tears.

Truthfully it was starting to annoy Harry. Randomly, in hallways between classes or when they were doing homework, Ron would start talking about Hermione and how he couldn't believe that she had left him. Harry couldn't see why Ron couldn't get over Hermione's rejection. It wasn't that big a deal! He knew the polite thing to do was listen and try and offer comfort but Ron just kept going and no matter how Harry tried to cheer him up, Ron just wouldn't shut up.

Why couldn't he just move on? After all Harry and Ginny had made up, hadn't they? It was a question Harry found himself asking over and over. After all they weren't fighting, they still talked to each other. He just wished that Ron would shut up for five damn minutes so he could get his homework done.

Ginny was leaning against Harry's arm, her eyes closed as she listened to her brother continue on his rant. Harry had tuned him out, mostly, and was at the moment practicing with the school wand he had been given.

The school wand wasn't nearly as good as his old wand. Half the time it didn't work correctly. Spells didn't cast the same or more often didn't cast at all. It felt unbalanced in his hand.

Harry flicked the wand performing the levitation charm on a piece of parchment. The paper remained immobile. Surly Hermione would have some comment to make about Harry's backward progress but she wasn't here at the moment.

Hermione was unphased by everything, acting like nothing had happened. She was not downstairs in the common room doing her homework. She had finished hours ago and left right before Ron had arrived. Harry had thought about talking with her about Ron, but he didn't have a clue where to start. And it really wasn't any of his business. Love, Harry decided was a joke, invented by someone who thought it very funny to screw with people.

"Harry," Ginny asked softly as she held onto Harry's arm. Harry's pen jumped on the last letter of the word he had been writing. Harry lifted his pen and looked down at Ginny. Ron was still talking but Harry wasn't hearing his words. "I was wondering if you would help me with something."

"Sure," Harry said uncertainly. He wasn't sure what Ginny could possibly need help with. She had finished her homework almost an hour ago and considering she was fifth year that was very impressive, especially since Harry wasn't anywhere close to finishing his.

"I want you to teach me to become an animagus." Ginny said looking up into his eyes. Harry felt shocked, no it was something else he couldn't place, there was a look in the back of her eyes he had never seen before.

"Uh," Harry said, "I'm not sure I would know where to start, I mean it was Hermione who really showed me maybe you should…"

"But I'm asking you," Ginny interrupted sweetly. "I've already started research on it. I just need a little help from some one who's already done it."

"Well," Harry said thinking over the month of training he had done with Hermione while she had prepared the potion. "It will take some time, but I think I can remember all the things we did."

"Great," Ginny said smiling. Something about her smile was different than what Harry remembered. "Let's start right now."

That Harry hadn't expected. It was very late already and Harry still had homework to get done. He hadn't even finished half of it yet and many of the assignments were already late. "But… I've got loads of homework still," Harry said. "How about, tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"You have Quidditch practice tomorrow," Ginny said. Harry had totally forgotten. He had meant to talk to Ginny, to ask her if she would consider coming back as a chaser, but he hadn't remembered until she had said something just now.

A plan was brewing in Harry's head. He wasn't really sure what he was thinking, it just all seemed to come together. Before he could stop himself Harry told Ginny.

"We can start tonight, but in return I want you to come back to the Quidditch team and play chaser," Harry said. It sounded more like a threat than a request. He couldn't really believe he had said it! His brain was talking for him.

"Alright," she said without hesitating. Harry found himself nothing short of surprised. She had agreed just like that, as though nothing had happened.

"Alright," Harry replied, unable to shake the feeling of disbelief. "Let's go to my room and…"

"No," Ginny said firmly. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "You're roommates might walk in on us, Ron might, and I want to keep this a secret. Go get you cloak and meet me down here, we'll go to the room of requirement."

Harry thought for a long moment. She had a point. Even if they wouldn't be doing anything major tonight it might be better to use the room of requirement.

Harry nodded and hurried upstairs to get his cloak. When he returned Ron had gone and Ginny was waiting by the exit. Ginny and Harry stood in the archway leading out of the common room. Almost no students were downstairs now. Harry slid the cloak around himself and Ginny and together they moved out into the castle.

---

Harry flew around above his Quidditch team, watching as they practiced. He was still thinking about last night. He knew Ginny was smart, but her aptitude for mastering the techniques for becoming animagus were remarkable. Harry was sure that had it been possible, she would have transformed on their first night of training.

It was all he had been thinking about most of the day, that and her parting words. 'Don't worry I have that covered,' was a puzzling response to Harry's question about how they were going to make the potion part. Harry wasn't sure what she meant by it. Surly she couldn't be brewing the potion up in her room could she? Harry hadn't asked.

He couldn't wait to practice with her again tonight, something about the thrill of two of them sneaking out after hours had done something to Harry. Never in his life had he felt so excited to be sneaking around the castle.

"NO!" Harry shouted as Ron missed another shot into the far hoop. He had been missing shots all practice. Ron's playing had been abysmal. For once everyone else on the team had played rather well except for Ron. With Ginny as the lead chaser the others seemed to be doing much better. Only a few times did they drop the qualful but Ginny was quick enough to recover it.

Melanie was incredible, though she had threatened to hit a bludger at anyone who called her Mel, which Harry had almost done a couple times. Literally the Slytherins wouldn't know what hit them.

Finally practice was over. Harry told his team they would meet up in the locker room to talk about today's practice and he would tell them where he thought some of them needed to focus. Harry let his team go on ahead but he called Ron back. It was time, Harry had to talk with him and had to make Ron see that he needed to get over Hermione.

Ron looked moody. His hands were stuffed in his pocket and his broom was under his arm. "What," Ron said like he really didn't care what it was Harry had to say.

"Ron," Harry said. "I wanted to stay out of this, because it's not my business, but it's effecting your ability to play." Ron looked darkly at Harry as though threatening him not to continue. "You have to move on, you've got to get over Hermione. You don't have to like it or be happy. But I don't want us to lose because you can't focus. The team needs its keeper!"

"Shove it," Ron said hotly and turned away. Harry took a few angry steps and caught up with Ron. He was going to end this one way or another. Grabbed Ron's shoulder Harry pulled Ron around to face him.

"I'm serious Ron, either get your head in the game or get out," Harry said angrily.

Ron tried to pull free but Harry didn't let go. Ron snarled at Harry."I should leave, you've gotten rid of everyone else," Ron snapped. Harry released his tight grip on Ron but left his hand there, he wasn't sure what had come over him, Harry tried to smile but it felt forced.

"Look, Ron, I'm sorry I didn't mean that," Harry said apologetically. "This year's just been difficult and you're the only keeper that we have." Ron shrugged Harry's hand off. There was something in his eyes.

"I thought you were my friend," Ron said darkly.

"What, of course I am," Harry said confused, "That's why I want you on the team, not just because you're a great keeper, when you're focused but because…"

"No!" Ron said. Harry felt taken aback, Ron didn't think he was a good keeper? Harry was about to argue the point but Ron, without warning, hit Harry in the face with his fist. Harry was knocked off his feet. He tasted blood on his lips.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Harry said wiping the blood from his lip.

"It's your fault," Ron said shaking. "Hermione left me because of you! Damn it Harry, it's because she loves you not me!"

"Have you gone mental Ron?" Harry asked. "Me and Hermione are just friends, nothing more."

"That's not true," Ron said shaking his head, "I've seen the way you look at her, I've been inside your head Harry, I saw things about her in there that…" Ron closed his eyes and paused. "…how many times have you fucked her?"

"What!" Harry said unable to control his surprise. "Ron you've really lost it." With a quick movement Ron was on his knees, his fist balled holding Harry's shirt.

"Don't you fucking lie to me," Ron said. "I saw the memories. I didn't want to believe them but I know it's true now."

"Ron I swear that nothing like that has ever happened between us," Harry said grabbing Ron's wrists. "I mean I'm with Ginny and I would never…"

"So what you fucked Ginny too?" Ron shouted. "You mother fucker! She's my goddamn sister!" Ron let go of Harry's shirt and punched him across the face. Harry rolled onto his stomach. The side of his head was pounding.

Ron had gone insane. Harry heard a roar of rage and Ron launched himself on Harry's back. Struggling Harry felt his elbow connect with a rib. Ron rolled off him and Harry scurried out along the ground, finally getting to his feet. Ron was standing slowly.

Harry spit the blood out of his mouth and wiped his lip again.

"Ron what the fuck is wrong with you!" Harry shouted at him. "I'm your best friend, I would never do such a thing, you know I wouldn't."

Ron pushed himself up. He stood looking at Harry. Harry was breathing hard, he was expecting another attack. He didn't want to fight Ron, especially over something he hadn't done. But if he had to Harry was ready fight. He had been beaten up a lot as a kid and he knew a good deal about taking and giving out punishment.

But it seemed Ron was done fighting with his hands because he pulled his wand out instead. Harry stood his ground, drawing his school wand. The wand felt unbalanced in his hand. It wasn't much and it didn't work very well but it was all he had.

Harry knew Ron was angry but drawing his wand was one step too far. Harry was as good as unarmed and Ron knew it. A horrible thought flashed through Harry's head, what if this wasn't Ron? Harry suddenly felt uneasy as a smile spread across Ron's face.

"I'm going to make sure you never touch either of them again," Ron said.

"_Exspelliamus!_" Both Ron and Harry shouted together. However, Ron's wand stayed firmly in his hand while Harry's went flying into the sky.

Without a wand there was no way to fight back from this distance. He could try and use a shield spell to block the attack. He had cast that spell many times before without his wand. But defending would not keep him alive for long and Harry felt in his gut that this fight was more than a tiff between friends.

If the shield spell had worked without a wand why shouldn't other spells? Harry pushed his hands forward willing the magic from them.

"_EXSPELLIAMUS_!" Harry shouted. To his surprise Ron's wand flipped out of his hand. However it did not fall far. Harry wasn't sure if Ron had dropped it or he had actually magiced it out of his hand.

Ron quickly recovered squatting down and picking up his wand Harry been so startled that he had cast a spell without a wand that he'd missed the opportunity of attack.

"We end this now," Ron said nastily, "_Avada Ka_… ahhhhhhh." The wand flew from Ron's hand, this time much further. Solaris stood between Ron and Harry his wings spread full. He had appeared out of nowhere and struck the wand from Ron's hand. Ron took a step away.

"Monster!" Ron shouted angrily. His arm flew out to hit Solaris but with a quick movement the blow was blocked.

"I have already sent for the headmaster, there is no point in fighting!" Solaris said as he blocked another of Ron's punches.

Panic moved across Ron's face, he turned and ran. He got only a few steps before his body jerked awkwardly and he fell to his knees, covering his ears. Ron began to scream as though he was in horrible pain.

Even though Harry was standing a good distance away he could make out blood running down the side of Ron's hands. Ron's body went suddenly limp and he toppled forward against the ground.

---

As though he had been watching them from afar Dumbledore appeared and levitated Ron into the air without a moment's hesitation. He did not ask Solaris or Harry what had happened but merely moved quickly towards the hospital wing.

Harry had been instructed to wait outside the Hospital wing. Dumbledore had rushed Ron inside, if it was Ron. Harry couldn't shake the feeling that it was Malfoy, using a polyjuice potion or something. If it was Malfoy, there would be no escape this time.

Snape appeared a few moments later and shot Harry a scathing look before sliding between the doors into the hospital wing. Harry was unable to catch a glance of Ron or anyone else inside.

Harry paced back and forth. The curse Ron had been casting was the killing curse, the worst unforgivable curse. He couldn't believe that Ron hated him so much that he had tried to kill him. He wouldn't believe it. It had to be Malfoy! Harry stopped pacing, he was tired of waiting. He moved to the doors to push them open, but before he could do so they opened on their own.

Dumbledore stood on the other side. He was not smiling.

"We have kept you waiting long enough Harry, please come in." Harry nodded.

Ron was asleep in the bed, there was a bandage wrapped around his head.

"Poppy," Dumbledore said, "if you could excuse us." Madam Pomfrey nodded and vanished into her office.

"We have not woken him to be questioned. I thought you should be present for this. I must warn you the things you might hear could be troubling." Dumbledore said. Harry nodded.

Snape moved next to Ron, put a vial to his lips and made him drink it. Ron's eyes were still shut. Snape pointed his wand at Ron and said, 'stimulus'

Ron's eyes opened but they had a glazed look to them.

"State your full name," Snape said.

"Ronald Weasley," Ron said in monotone.

"What was your grade on your last potions test?" Snape asked with narrow eyes.

"A dreadful," Ron said. Snape looked at Dumbledore and nodded.

"Ron," Dumbledore said, there was no softness in his voice. "Do you remember attacking Harry out on the Quidditch field?"

"Yes," Ron said.

"Do you know why you did?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Ron replied.

"Why?" Harry asked before Dumbledore could.

"Because I couldn't stand the thought of seeing Harry Potter alive another day," Ron said. There was silence in the hospital wing.

"And why is that?" Dumbledore asked calmly. Harry had lost the will to talk or even to listen. He couldn't believe it. Ron, his best friend, truly hated him.

"Because its his fault, everything bad is his fault," Ron said. "I hate him."

"Did you try to cast the killing curse?" Dumbledore asked just as calmly.

"Yes." Ron replied.

"Alright, that's all, Severus," Dumbledore said. Snape tapped Ron on the top the head and Ron's eyes closed.

"I can't believe that Ron would…" Harry said unable to look away from the person he thought was his friend.

"He didn't," Dumbledore said. "At least not willingly. His testimony and his condition both point towards the Imperious curse. Bleeding of the ears is common for prolonged assault against an unwilling mind, especially if it is against the nature of the person. He also lacks a reason and has only an emotion, in this case hate, for his actions.

"The question me must ask now is who has done this?" Dumbledore said.

"Malfoy!" Harry said without pause. "It has to be him." Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Potter, do you have any evidence to support that?" Snape asked coldly.

"No," Harry said bitterly. Not matter how much he knew it was Malfoy he was sure that Malfoy would have an airtight alibi with someplace else.

"I see," Dumbledore said, he let out a sigh. He looked very old and very tired. "Solaris, escort Harry back to the Gryffindor tower." Solaris nodded and Harry felt a hand on his back.

---

Ron had not returned the following day nor was he in the hospital wing. Harry was concerned, what had happened to him? They hadn't shipped him off to Azkaban had they? Harry considered marching to Dumbledore's office to demand an answer but he didn't know the password to get in and he doubted very much the gargoyle would move aside for him or that becoming a phoenix and teleporting into Dumbledore's office was a good idea.

It wasn't until Harry reached the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room that he finally stopped worrying about Ron. Not because he had gotten an answer as to what had happened but because what was happening was so strange. Most of the class was standing in the hall. There was nothing odd about that in itself. The strange thing was that there wasn't a classroom where they were standing, at least no door. Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing, or rather what he wasn't seeing. The door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room had vanished.

"It has to be an illusion of some kind!" one of the Gryffindor students said feeling the wall. Harry looked to where the door should be, but it was solid wall as though it didn't exist.

"Maybe we are in the wrong place!" Said a Slytherin girl. "We might have walked through a confusion charm!" Many murmurs from the crowd seemed to approve this idea.

Harry looked through the group of students and notice that Hermione was not among them. Had she already found the class? It seemed likely, she was very good at seeing past illusions.

"Well," Malfoy said in a drawling voice, "if class isn't here I'm not going to look for it." And without waiting he strolled off laughing with Crabbe and Goyle about some snide remark he had made under his breath.

Harry looked at the wall trying to figure out what the trick was.

"Potter!" said a voice from behind Harry, Harry turned. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all standing behind him. They looked shocked to see him and the rest of the class here. "What's going on!" It was madness! They had walked away the complete opposite direction and come around as though they had walked in a giant loop.

"Wait a minute," Harry said. Something in his head had just clicked. "I'll be right back." Harry said to the group of students. Without waiting Harry sprinted off past Malfoy, Crab and Goyle.

A few moments latter Harry came upon his classmates again, approaching them from the other side. Many of the students had surprised looks on their faces. Harry turned and looked behind him. The hallway appeared empty. He had seen this before, on Avalon. The question now was how to get out of it.

"Alright," Harry said. "We are in a magical labyrinth called an infinity box," he wasn't sure how he knew that. "Both ends of the hallway have been magically enchanted so that going down one direction brings you back to the other side. The trick is to find the path that hasn't been enchanted. Everyone split up and start moving down the walls, try walking in different places. One person needs to stay here so we have a marker of where we started."

"And why should we listen to you, Potter," Malfoy sneered.

"You don't have to," Harry said. "But we are all here together, if we want to find a way out we need to work together."

"Alright, what are we looking for?" Seamus asked.

"It would be best if we all walk side by side. We have enough students here to make a line going both ways down the hall. We are looking for a space that doesn't loop you to the other side." Harry said.

"Okay you heard Harry!" Neville said loudly. "Everyone form up!" All of the Gryffindors rushed forward and joined the line, but most of the Slytherins stayed with Malfoy. Some, however, followed along behind one of the two lines. One directed by Harry and the other by Neville. They both set out walking in opposite direction from each other. Harry followed behind his line as they walked.

"Steady now!" Neville said from behind Harry. Harry turned. Neville and his line that had been walking the other way had appeared behind him.

"Neville?" Harry asked. Neville looked round and was surprised to see Harry behind him.

"Looks like there isn't an exit on our side." Neville said halting his line of students.

Suddenly along the end of Harry's line one of the Gryffindor students vanished as though stepping through a hole in space. Harry looked round to tell Neville but he had vanished too.

"Alright," Harry said, "we found our hole." Harry moved backwards the way they had come. It wasn't far before they found Neville again standing where he had been only a moment ago.

"This is really weird!" exclaimed a female Gryffindor.

"Okay everyone move along the right wall. Stay as close to it as you can." Harry said as Gryffindors vanished through the hole in space one by one. Neville was the last one besides Harry.

"What do you think we should do about the rest of Slytherines?" Neville asked looking back.

"I guess we should tell them," Harry said. "Wait here, I'll go find them." Neville nodded and Harry moved back towards the group. Harry was sure he had walked a long way and he must have reached them by now but there was no sign of them.

"Harry!" Neville shouted from behind him.

Harry turned round Neville was standing next to the wall.

"You just appeared out of thin air. Where are the Slytherins?" Neville asked.

"I don't know, I didn't see them anywhere in the maze, maybe they found a way out?" Harry said.

"Maybe there sure wasn't one on the other side though," Neville said. For a brief moment Harry was about to correct Neville pointing out that there was no other side. He wasn't sure why or how he knew that, it just seemed to be a strange fact that had suddenly popped into his head.

"Right, well let's get out of here," Harry said. The two of them stepped through the empty space and found themselves next to a group of students and outside the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Solaris was standing at the far end of the group with a clipboard, Hermione was standing next to him looking anxiously at Harry.

"Well, not bad," Solaris said. Harry suddenly noticed that Malfoy and the group that had stayed behind were here. "Most of you were able to make it out, some we had to retrieve. But overall a very good job."

"It was Harry that led us out!" Neville said. Solaris looked over his clip board and smiled. The rest of the students looked back at him too. "If it wasn't for him we would still be stuck inside!"

Harry felt his cheeks starting to betray him, he didn't want any credit for helping his friends out, there was something that needed to be done and he had done it.

"Yes, I was expecting that he would." Solaris said. "Since he and Miss Granger were the only two to have top scores on our last detection test. Well, everyone inside, I had hoped you would find your way out a little sooner so we are bit behind."

---

When class had ended Hermione rushed off without waiting for Harry, or even inquiring about what had happened to Ron. She wasn't at lunch either but as it turned out Ginny had been told where Ron had been sent.

"Mom came last night and took him home," Ginny said. "Dumbledore said that he needed a week or so away from school to recover." Harry hopped Ron was okay. Harry hadn't even been able to tell Ron that he didn't blame him for what happened.

"So," Ginny said smiling. "You're up for giving me some more training tonight, right?" Harry smiled down at her.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world Gin," Harry said kissing her on her forehead. It was something he had done often but for some reason, this time, it didn't feel right. Harry couldn't describe it but he just felt different.

---

Between Ginny's night time animagus training and Harry's preparation for the DA meeting there wasn't much time for anything else. The week couldn't go by fast enough. With his less then adequate school wand classes were difficult to say the least. Harry was falling behind in his homework too as it took twice as long to get anything done with an uncooperative wand.

Quidditch practice had gone on but without a keeper Harry had had to try and fill the spot himself, hoping he would not need to find a replacement for Ron.

It was a very hard job to throw yourself in front of a spinning qualful and stop it. Harry managed to do an okay job but he didn't want to have to do this for their game in two weeks

Harry kept trying to put time aside to write to Olivander and ask about repairing his broken wand. But every time he tried sitting down to write the letter he found something else that needed doing.

It was Hermione who finally talked to him into getting a new wand, saying that his old wand was beyond repair. It was the first time she had talked to Harry since her fight with Ron in the room of requirement. She had been oddly formal with Harry, who had been uncomfortable the whole time.

It was silly, really. For some reason talking to Hermione was like talking to Cho. The words just didn't seem to come out. He had never had trouble talking to her before, but the words Ron had said out on the field troubled him. Still, had it been his words or someone else's. Was it really true that Hermione had dumped Ron because she loved Harry?

Harry still wasn't sure what he felt about Hermione. He wasn't sure if he loved her like that at all. And it sort of unnerved him to think that she might.

The DA meeting had been a special one, commanders only. Harry had explained that it would be commanders who would train their squad. Starting next meeting they would start training them in specific skills that Hermione had listed out.

What Harry was looking forward to came after the meeting, the first report from their spy in the Legion.

"All meetings are anonymous," Morag said. "Only the leaders know who we all are. We come in black unmarked robes and masks and no one speaks unless spoken to." It reminded Harry very much of the way that Voldemort ran his group of death eaters.

"You said leader_s_?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yes, there are three of them," Morag said. "One is Malfoy that much I know, but the other two don't speak out loud."

"Crabbe and Goyle no doubt," Ginny said. Morag shook his head.

"Maybe but I don't know, they always seem to be whispering to Malfoy," Morag said. "And they don't really fit the build. But like I said the only one I am sure of is Malfoy.

"He sure talks a lot. Mostly about you," Morag said pointing at Harry. "About how you're really the evil one and your evil plans to take over the world. I think some of the students are really buying into it too."

"Propaganda," Hermione said nodding.

"They also know about the DA," Morag said. "There is a reward for anyone that can find the meeting place."

"I'm not surprised," Harry said. "Where is the Legion meeting at?"

"There is a secret passage that leads into a dungeon I had never been to before." Morag said. "It's on the first floor behind a statue of witch with crazy hair."

"Milla Mirith," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Morag said surprised. "How'd you know that?"

"Well it's not really hard to figure out, she was a crazy witch that spent most of her life decorating dungeons to make them feel cozy." Hermione smiled. Morag's jaw was open.

"Hogwarts, a History," Harry said waving it off, "you should read it some time, Morag. Anything else?"

"Yeah in our first meeting there was this guy there, he wasn't a student he was a man, I think he might have been a teacher." Morag said.

"What!" Harry and Hermione said at the same time.

"I don't know who he was but he was the only adult there." Morag said. "I think he might have been a real death eater."

"Alright, do you know when the next meeting is?" Harry asked calmly.

"Yeah there is one next week on Monday," Morag said. Harry nodded.

"Are you still okay with this?" Harry asked putting his hand on Morag's shoulder.

"Yeah," Morag said. "It scares the hell out of me, but…" Harry squeezed Morag's shoulder.

"Don't worry," Harry said. Morag nodded and Harry led him to the door.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Ginny asked as Harry came back.

"He is putting his life on the line for us," Harry said.

"What if he is spying on us though," Ginny said. "How do we know anything he just said was true?"

"We don't, but next meeting I think they are going to have one extra member." Harry said. "Me."

* * *

Authors Notes:

Hello, it's me again, honestly who else would it be… ack help… it's Starwin… he's found me typing his Authors Notes!

Alex you stay the hell way from my laptop! Sorry about that.

Okay now onto some notes!

These are notes on last chapter

I know a lot of people can't see Ron crying. 'ducks as tomatoes fly through the air' But let me explain my reasoning for this. Hermione strait up said I don't love you Ronald, along with some other things I didn't tell the readers, I'll leave that for you to guess and/or fill in as you like. From what I have gathered from the books Ron and Hermione have been 'a couple' since book 3. It's a major devastating blow to Ron and even he has him limits. Maybe Ron is the sensitive one?

Um, I know I have something else I wanted to say, hold on let me check my notes.

Oh! Yeah that one really important piece of information in chapter …TWACK…

Alright, Alex again, I've done away with the Author so he can't write any more notes. Time to add my own notes!

Starwin's real name is error0401: str42 corrupted

Malfoy has a error0401: str42 corrupted

Harry really loves error0003: data not found

The real bad guy is 'Papa Smurf ' error1303: str42 printed with errors

Harry is really error0401: str42 corrupted father

The answer to life the universe and everything is error0401: str42 corrupted

A note from Alex: THIS ISNT WHAT HAPPENED AT ALL!

A note from Starwin: Yes it is and because I'm the author I get the final word!

A note from Alex: No you don't!

A note from Starwin: YES I DO!

Alright enough! This silliness ends NOW!

A note from Alex: No you don't, he-he-he

A note from Starwin: I'm serious now cut that out or these AN's will be like five pages long!

A note from Alex: LA$+ W()R )


	22. – Thin Line

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 22 – Thin Line

So far today had been a normal Monday. Harry had started by sending off a letter to Mr. Olivander asking if it would be possible to repair his wand. Harry had enclosed the broken halves hoping that there would be some way to repair the damage.

As the end of the day drew closer Harry felt tense. Tonight was the Legion meeting. At first Harry had thought of going to the Legion meeting dressed as a member. However, as Hermione pointed out, Morag had indicated that there had been a small group, and an extra member might easily be spotted. The invisibility cloak was the next best option for this mission. It offered the best chance for infiltration. Harry had decided he would go alone, more than one person would be too risky.

And so it was that Harry stood outside the statue of Milla Mirith, a witch with hair that defied the laws of all things, pointing out in every direction. It was seven thirty. Morag had said eight o'clock but Harry wanted to be here early, giving him time to sneak in undetected, he hoped. The hallway was empty. Not a single person had come this way for more than twenty minutes. Perhaps most of the students were at dinner still. Harry checked his watch under his cloak. Seven thirty two. Harry sighed and looked up. He froze someone had stopped in front of the statue that Harry was standing next to.

The person was dressed in all black—a black mask without eyeholes, a black robe, with no markings, and black gloves covering the hands so that no skin showed. For a moment Harry almost forgot he was under the invisibility cloak. The person seemed to be looking right at him. Harry held his breath as the person moved slowly towards him. Harry's back was against the wall there was no space to retreat. The person in black's hand rushed out towards Harry to pull the invisibility cloak away.

Reacting at the last second Harry stepped aside. The hand missed and instead touched a stone on the wall, then another, then another. The floor rumbled and the statue of the witch sunk backwards into the wall. Where the statue had been, a large circlar hole now existed. Spiraling stairs led down into the dark.

Without a moments hesitation the person moved down the stairs. The top of the black mask had barely vanished before the statue pushed out from the wall to cover the secret passage below it.

Harry pulled the Marauders map from his pocket. This was a reconnaissance mission after all and he wanted to get the names of his enemies. Harry tapped the map with his school wand and whispered 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.' The map however did not activate, Harry tried again.

"Shhh, did you hear that?" asked a voice from down the hall. Harry pulled the map against his chest and held his wand in front of him. Three more black masked students had arrived, Harry hadn't even heard them approach.

"I don't hear anything," said one of the students. It was Malfoy speaking this time, Harry was sure of it. The students that had just spoken moved to the same spot as the last person and pressed the bricks in order. Again the statue slid away and the student moved partway down the spiral stairs. Harry pushed the map down into his pocket. It would be too risky to try and activate it again. He would just have to listen. Maybe Malfoy would refer to people by name.

"Crabbe," Malfoy said pointed to one of the two masked students, wait here and check people as they come in. Harry couldn't help but smile. Malfoy and, Harry assumed, Goyle, moved down the passage. It did not close after them this time. Now was Harry's chance to get in unnoticed. Harry moved around Crabbe, who stood watching the hallway, and down the stairs.

The stairs spiraled down so that Harry could not see far in front of him. His instincts told him he should move slowly in case some one was coming up, but he knew it was more likely people would be coming down behind him.

At last Harry reached the bottom meeting no one. The stairs connected to a short stone passage that led to a heavy wooden door, which was swinging closed. The door hit the latch but it did not click shut.

Harry knew his best bet would be to wait for someone to open the door and follow them in. However, in this small space there was no place he could stand and not risk colliding with someone. There were voices coming down the stairs behind Harry now.

Harry bit his lip. He would have to do this right. Harry moved to the end of the passage close to the unlocked door. A group of black masked students appeared at the bottom of the stairs heading right for him. Harry put his hand against the door.

"It should be a good meeting tonight," one of the students said. It was a female voice that Harry couldn't place. "I hear that Malfoy has a special treat for us." They were almost here.

Harry opened the door just as the students reached it and slid through into the room. The students walked in and became silent, not glancing back. If Harry was right they had figured someone had opened it from the inside and the people already in the room would think it had been opened from the outside.

Quickly Harry moved against the back wall. The dungeon was a little larger than then a classroom. It was void of anything except a stone stage and podium. Two members stood on the stage talking in low voices. A third sat in a chair, almost invisible under the bright torches that lit the podium. The two standing on the stage did not look towards the door as the members entered.

Without being instructed the members sat on the floor, but not at the front of the room or even together in the group they had come in. Instead they sat in different spots around the room, like they had assigned places on the floor.

Harry waited and watched as more members arrived. Each sat in a different spot. It was almost unnerving to watch. Harry was reminded of the circle he had seen Voldemort's Death Eaters make.

At last the room was almost full. Crabbe came in through the door and closed it behind him, locking it and taking his place. Harry counted forty students. Two spots seemed to be left open, as though members were missing.

"Greetings members of the Legion," Malfoy said standing at the podium at the front of the room. The torch light illuminated his black robed figure. In the darkness of the dungeon he seemed menacing. It was like watching a meeting of death eaters. Malfoy spoke differently his voice commanding power and purpose.

The students had not been talking but the room became quiet as Malfoy talked. "The dark lord is pleased with your hard work. But not all of you have been loyal."

For the first time there was a sense of uneasiness in the air and some of the members shifted around. Harry stood motionless under the invisibility cloak. 'Not all had been loyal?' did Malfoy know about the DA spy hiding among them?

"You," Malfoy said pointing into the audience singling out a member indistinguishable from the rest. Malfoy stepped around the podium his hand still outstretched towards the masked student. For some reason Malfoy seemed much taller than Harry remembered him.

Harry gripped his wand tightly. If Malfoy had found Morag, the DA spy, Harry was going to have to act fast to save him. But with the school wand Harry doubted if he would be able to perform even simple spells. This wasn't good.

Malfoy moved through the ranks of black masked students final stopping short of one, his finger pointed menacingly down. "Rise," Malfoy said coldly. Harry knew Malfoy was a slimy git but he had never seen this side of him, a side that truly seemed evil, almost frightening. It was almost like Malfoy had become Voldemort.

The masked student rose.

"You are the spy," Malfoy said coldly. The student nodded.

"Yes… yes I am," the student said. Harry wasn't sure because the voice sounded frightened but the student didn't sound like Morag. "It was Harry Potter's idea. He wanted me to spy on you. He threatened to kill me if I didn't do what he said. His army is slowly taking over the school, threatening anyone that gets in their way!"

Harry felt his throat wanting to cry out in protest, to tell them all that it wasn't true. Only the remembrance that he was invisible kept him silent. 'If they can't see you they shouldn't hear you either!' Harry thought to himself.

Malfoy placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and spoke in a soft, kind, voice.

"It's alright," Malfoy said with a smile in his voice. "We all know that the evil Harry Potter has been trying to take over since the year he arrived." Malfoy turned and began to walk back towards the stage. The student remained standing.

"Lies have been told by everyone," Malfoy said as he walked, "The Dark Lord knows this, lies have been told about him too and about the dark arts. Magic is magic, there is no good or evil magic, only power." Malfoy reached the stage and turned back to the audience. "And those too weak to seek it."

"The Dark Lord is kind enough to forgive a wayward follower. You have renounced the evil Harry Potter. Follow the Legion faithfully and the Dark Lord will grant you the power you seek."

"My allegiance is to the Dark Lord," the student said. "He is my only master." Malfoy motioned for the boy to sit.

Harry's brain seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere along the line because he was still waiting for Malfoy to pull out his wand and kill the student, or at least torture him or something. But forgive him without a moment's hesitation? That seemed almost uncharacteristic, unreal.

And then, a little voice, spoke in the back of Harry's mind. It was a voice he had heard many times, mostly when he was about to, or doing something wholly irresponsible, Hermione's voice. 'It's not real, they're acting,' the voice said. Suddenly everything that Malfoy had said and done made sense. This whole thing had been planed. The member had never been a spy or even unfaithful. It was just an act. And the members of the Legion seemed to be lapping it up.

Harry listened to the rest of the meeting, shaking his head unable to believe how anyone could even consider the words Malfoy spoke were true. Malfoy was very good at spinning his web of lies. Standing at the podium illuminated by torches against shadowy stone he had a very powerful figure. His voice was strong and willed the ear to listen. But the words had no effect on Harry. All Harry could hear in them was a hissing quality like a snake lying between its teeth.

The meeting consisted of no training what so ever. Just lots of talking, by Malfoy, about how great Voldemort was, though he never once said Voldemort's name, and how evil Harry and Dumbledore were.

When at last the meeting concluded, two hours latter, Harry was sure of only one thing. What ever the Legion Ex Voldemort was it wasn't a threat to anyone except its own members.

Students began to exit. The two members that had been sitting behind Malfoy the whole meeting and hadn't said a word stood and began talking with Malfoy in low whispers. However now that the meeting was over they seemed to have quite a lot to say. However Harry could not make out their words. Harry moved along the wall towards the front of the room. Whatever they were talking about with Malfoy this was what Harry had been waiting to hear.

"…ov…all convincing," the member on Malfoy's left said.

"I think it went well," Malfoy said. "At least Goyle was able to remember his lines." The member on Malfoy's right nodded.

"But, there are still too few," said the black masked person Malfoy had been talking with. He had a thick accent that sounded like he was from Bulgaria. "The dark lord needs more willing supporters, here, ready to join his cause at a moment's notice.

"We're gathering as quickly as possible, but we have to be careful," Malfoy said. "Potter has eyes everywhere." Harry moved closer.

"Yes, Potter is a problem," the Bulgarian accented man said darkly. "I would have thought the Dark Lord would have removed him by now." Malfoy nodded but did not respond.

"Someone is watching us," said a female voice that hadn't spoken yet. It belonged to the third person standing on Malfoy's left. Her voice was raspy and barely above a whisper. Harry couldn't place if he had heard it before or not.

The female legion member pointed a black gloved hand at Harry. Harry felt his heart stop. How could this person see him?

Malfoy whirled drawing his wand and shouting something Harry didn't hear. Harry was already sprinting for the door.

"THE DOOR, LOCK THE DOOR!" the Bulgarian voice shouted. Harry reached the door just as a spell impacted with it. The handle would not come free. Harry spun around the cloak still wrapped around him. The three masked Legion members advanced on him, their wands drawn.

"Can you see who it is Demoltrov?" Malfoy asked as they walked towards the door. Harry could see only one way out of this. Focusing Harry transformed into Talon. He tried to think of anywhere but this. There was a burst of flame and Talon vanished.

---

Talon landed rolling on something soft. He wasn't sure where he had teleported to. Up until now he had never used his teleport ability to jump more that a couple of feet. But surly he had gone much further than that this time.

Looking around Talon found himself in some sort of dark room. There was no light and for some reason his feathers were not giving off any glow. His feet were pressed against something soft and springy, a sofa maybe? A creaking of hinges pulled Talon's attention towards the door as light sprang into the room. A woman entered and flicked her wand, illuminating the lamp next to Talon.

Talon wasn't on a sofa, he was on a bed! What's more he was on a bed in a girl's dormitory! And on top of all that he was on Hermione's bed! Talon realized all this because the person that had just come in was Hermione. She looked very tired, but for some reason didn't seem at all surprised to see a phoenix sitting on her bed. In fact it was almost as though she didn't see Talon at all. Talon had to quickly hop out of the way as Hermione pulled her robe off and tossed it onto the bed almost hitting Talon.

Talon was confused. It was like she couldn't even see him. Talon lifted his wings and was surprised to find that he couldn't see them! It was almost like he had become invisible! For a moment Talon thought it was because he was under the invisibility cloak but usually he could still see his wings…err arms… whatever.

Talon struggled with his thoughts trying to figure out what had happened and what to do now. But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Hermione began to unbutton her blouse. Talon felt his beak drop open.

He was invisible in Hermione's room watching her undress. This was messed up. He knew it was and yet, he couldn't draw himself away. Some urge inside him kept his eyes locked on Hermione's soft white breast hidden beneath her pink bra as she slowly undid the buttons on her shirt. It was almost like she was teasing him to watch.

Talon had dreamed of things like this before. But that's all they had been, dreams, there had never once been a real desire to actually see Hermione stripping down before him.

Hermione pulled her blouse off and tossed it into the hamper. Talon's mind was starting to work again. He had to get out of her before she found him out. Her friendship was too important to lose over a misunderstanding like this and Harry was certain that in the mood she had been in lately, ever since her and Ron had broken up, she wouldn't be very understanding.

Talon began to look around to put his eye's anywhere but on Hermione, who was now wiggling out of her gray skirt and exposing very tight fitting pink panties. Now that Talon was trying to look away it was like she was the only thing in the room. His eyes kept coming back to her soft round body. Seeing Hermione in a way he had never seen her before.

Suddenly Hermione turned around. A giant pink butt came rushing down as she moved to sit on her bed, right where Talon was standing. His wings reacting for him Talon leapt sideways and glided to the floor. He chanced a glance back at Hermione who was working her black socks off her feet. His eye's slipped upwards to her breast again. Talon looked quickly away feeling that if he wasn't covered in feathers or completely invisible, he would have been very red.

When he teleported he left a burst of flame behind but maybe since he was invisible he wouldn't this time. But it wasn't something he wanted to risk. If Hermione saw the burst of flame it would be just like she had seen him, since she knew he was a phoenix.

There was only one thing to do wait till she either went to sleep or left the room. Talon turned back around and felt his eyes bug-out. Hermione had taken her pink bra off. Her small round breast were bouncing slightly as she worked her way out of her underwear. Talon turned away again. He wanted so badly to turn and look but he knew that it was so very wrong.

Talon closed his eyes hoping that she would leave soon and to his surprise a moment later the door opened and closed. Talon turned around. Hermione had gone, how she had gotten dressed so quickly Talon couldn't fathom but now that she was gone it was time to make his escape. Talon looked at the window and imagined himself outside it. Just as he was about to teleport the door opened again. Talon looked back to see who it was. Hermione was standing in the doorway, a towel wrapped around her. She was looking into the room as though she had forgotten something.

With all his will Talon was trying to not to teleport away yet. The towel slipped a little revealing a pink nipple and a moment later Talon vanished with a pop right in front of her.

---

At the last second Talon's concentration had been thrown off and he had not appeared outside the window as he had wanted. At least this time he was not in someone's bedroom. He was in one of the school hallways. From the looks of it most likely the first floor hallway that connected up with the Great hall. Talon backed against the wall and with a force of will became Harry again. He'd had enough of the troublesome teleporting and he didn't want to risk appearing anywhere else.

The invisibility cloak was around him again. He could see his arms and legs beneath it. Harry leaned heavily against the wall. Had Hermione seen him? Did she know that he had been in her room watching her undress? Harry didn't know. He hoped not. Harry let out a sigh and turned, heading for the nearest staircase that would take him up to Gryffindor tower.

---

No one was in the halls this late at night but all the same Harry kept the cloak over him as he moved. He had gotten too many detentions for being out of bed and he didn't want another problem to add to his night.

"Floor 3, clear," said a voice. Harry stopped. His heart began to beat very fast as adrenalin pumped into his blood. There had been a soft voice speaking only a moment ago. But Harry could see no one else here. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the blank piece of parchment that was the Marauders map. Harry tapped it with his wand and said the words but the map did not activate.

"Moving to floor four," the voice said again. It was further away this time. Harry pushed his wand into his pocket and looked at the map as though trying to rationalize what he was about to try. With a quick jab Harry tapped the map with his finger and spoke the words to activate it.

Ink began to pour out onto the map drawing walls and passages. Quickly Harry unfolded it. There was his name, Harry Potter, and down the hall moving up the stairs, where, when Harry looked up there was no one, was the name tag that read 'Adam.'

It was the first time Harry had ever seen only a first name on the map. But it wasn't the first time he had seen a person appear on the map that hadn't been visible.

Cautiously Harry followed the name as it moved. Whoever this person was they weren't talking anymore and they were moving very slowly. Harry squinted his eyes trying to spot the person, he should be right in front of Harry, but they had to be under an invisibility cloak or something because Harry didn't see anyone.

Suddenly the name vanished from the map. Harry looked down unable to believe it. Had the person dissaperated? No that was impossible. After all you couldn't dissaperate on the Hogwarts ground. Harry was so amazed that he had remembered that, that he didn't hear the footsteps close in behind him. Moments later an arm wrapped around Harry's chest and a hand clamped itself over his mouth.

"Don't move," the voice said into Harry's ear. Harry was trying to fight out with all his might but whoever this person was they were very strong. "Who are you and why are you following me?"

"et e o!" Harry said through the muffling hand. Harry felt himself lifted off the ground and pulled quickly into a classroom. The man let Harry go, spinning him so that Harry was disoriented.

Harry heard the sound of the door as it shut and locked. For a moment Harry wasn't sure which way the door was. Whoever his assailant had been he'd done a good job of putting Harry off his guard.

"Look kid," the man said. "We can do this the easy way…" there was a swishing of air and something that sounded like it was charging up "…or we can do this the hard way."

Harry finally steadied himself and turned to find the man standing in front the door. The light from the hallway illuminated him in a strange way. Harry could see his outline but he was like glass. Light bent around his the top half of his body but he still cast a shadow on the floor. He was not completely invisible but still mostly transparent except for the long metal baton he in his hand. The silver metal glowed with an eerie blue light as its tip hovered just above the stone floor.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"Adam," the man said simply as though this explained everything. He had a different accent, American maybe? "Now your turn kid, who are you and what'a you doing outa bed?" Harry teetered back and forth as to whether or not he should tell this stranger his real name. What if he was a Death Eater sent here to kill him?

"Harry," Harry said at last. "And what I was doing out of bed isn't any business of yours." Harry said defiantly. The man chuckled as though he found Harry's taunt amusing.

"Harry Potter hu?" The man said. The man flicked his wrist and the metal baton shrunk into his hand. "Well kid you just saved us a whole night of searchen for ya." The man pressed something on his stomach and the invisibility shimmered away leaving a black, suited man. It was like no magic Harry had ever seen.

"Wana take off that cloak so we can talk proper?" the man said pulling off the black mask that covered his face. Harry could see that the man's hair was gray. Two great slashes ran down his face and through his left eye. He reminded Harry a little bit of Moody, except he didn't have a peg leg.

Taking a deep breath Harry pulled the cloak off and held it under his arm.

"Target found, room 423," Adam said. Harry looked at him quizzically. "Mico radio transceiver built into my ear and throat. I'm assuming that you heard me talking to the rest of my unit."

"Unit?" Harry asked. "Just who are you really and what do you mean by target?" Harry took hold of the wand in his pocket, fully aware that it would not protect him against this person.

Adam took a step closer and held out his hand.

"ELF unit, United States Magical Enforcement Division," Adam said still holding his hand out. "We were sent here to find you, Harry Potter." Something in Harry's head clicked.

"ELF? Hold on I heard of you before, my friend Ron has a whole bunch of comic books on you," Harry said in disbelief.

"The best place to keep a secret is in the open," Adam said. "But that's not why we are here." Adam turned and looked out the window and then nodded. The door opened and in the illumination of the light Harry could see three more semi invisible people enter.

"How are you invisible like that?" Harry asked pointing at the others as they in turn became visible again. Each was dressed in a black tight fitting outfit, like Adam. "I thought you were all supposed to be muggles."

"It's RLCD technology," said a man with a deep voice. He pulled the hood off his face. His skin was dark in color and he had black short cut hair. "Makes us like glass, bending imaged around us. Not magic, just good science."

"This is Kain," Adam said indicating the dark skinned man with the deep voice. "Lilith," the women standing next to Kain, she had fair skin and short blond hair. "and Eve," the shortest of all the people in the room, save for Harry, Eve had long black hair and an Asian look to her face.

"So what are you doing here?" Harry asked. "And why were you looking for me?"

"Our job is to protect the interests of the United States," Eve said. Even though she looked Asian her accent was definitely American. "Officially our government says that wizards and witches do not exist. But as everyone in this room knows, that is not true.

"We are here because of a problem, a wizard calling himself Voldemort." Eve said. Up until that point Harry wasn't entirely sure what to make of these people, but she had said Voldemort's name as though it was just another name. Whoever they were they weren't afraid of him. "We've been assured by the British government that the problem was under control. But as is our policy we like to ensure that all problems are under control. This one is not."

"The point is," Adam said interrupting. "That this wizard's been red flagged."

"Red flagged?" Harry asked confused.

"National security threat," Kain said.

"He's a problem that hasn't been dealt with. We launched an attack on a location where he was rumored to be. But Voldemort escaped."

"So why didn't you just go after him again?" Harry asked.

"I didn't say we weren't still after him, I just said he escaped," Adam said his voice still calm.

"We've never fought magic like his before." Lilith said. "Most of the registered wizards living in the US don't cause any major problems."

"Is that why you came to me, looking for help?" Harry asked.

"Yes and no," Adam said. "We picked up on the rumor about you and Voldemort. And quiet a few interesting stories to boot. It seems you two have tangoed before and each time you've come out the winner. The next time you meet, we want to ensure that it's the last time, Lilith." The women stepped forward.

"There is rumor that you are building an army to fight against Voldemort." Lilith said. "I've volunteered to help train you."

"Woah, hold on," Harry said waving his hands. "Thanks but, I mean what are you going to do? None of you are wizards, how exactly could you help us?" Faster than Harry could comprehend Lilith vanished and Harry felt her forearm across his throat. Harry dropped the invisibility cloak to the floor as his hands came up to try and pull her arm away.

"The biggest weakness of any wizard is their overconfidence in magic," Lilith whispered into Harry's ear. "None of them expect to fight close combat. We know more than a few tricks that." Lilith released Harry. Harry rubbed his throat.

"We're also willing to supply you with equipment," Adam said.

"For free?" Harry asked.

"Think of it as payment for taking care of a problem," Kain said.

"I need to think about it," Harry said. Adam pulled his hood back on.

"You have till tomorrow. We won't be far." Adam pressed the button on the front of his stomach and dissolved into the glass like outline. The rest of the members followed and left the classroom.

"Wait, how do I reach you?" Harry shouted after them. But no answer came. Harry closed the door to the classroom and picked up his invisibility cloak from the floor. As he did a small black object fell from inside the cloak. It looked like some kind of walky-talky, but it wouldn't work here. Muggle devices weren't supposed to work in places like Hogwarts.

Harry froze. That was the third time tonight he had been able to recall something like that and this time he could even recall the page it was on from Hogwarts, a history. Page 211, chapter 14 – Magic and Science. Harry held the walky-talky like object in his hand. Why had he remembered that, how had he remembered that? Harry had never once read the book.

Wanting this day to end Harry pushed the black muggle device into his pocket and wrapped the invisibility cloak around him. Harry checked the map before he left empty classroom, there was no one out of bed except for him. Harry poked the map with his finger and whispered 'mischief managed.' The map returned to blankness and Harry hurried back up to the dormitories.

---

The common room was empty as Harry arrived or so he thought. As Harry moved over towards the boy's staircase he spotted Ginny sitting in one of the armchairs, her eyes watching the portrait hole. Harry stood looking at her for a moment, trying to decide what to do. He wasn't sure he was up for talking with her tonight but at last he pulled the cloak off feeling that he didn't want her to sit up all night waiting for him.

Ginny's eyes popped open as though Harry had awoken her.

"Harry!" she cried leaping out of her chair and grabbing him around the middle. "I was so worried! You were gone so long I thought something had happened to you!"

Harry had forgotten he was supposed to meet up with Hermione and Ginny after the Legion meeting to tell them what he had learned.

"Sorry," Harry said. "I ran into some diversions along the way."

"Well?" Ginny asked looking up at him.

"Well?" Harry said confused. "Oh, about the meeting? I'm not really sure where to start. Where's Hermione at?" Harry asked looking around.

"She said she was going to bed early," Ginny replied. "Did you find out what kind of curses the Legion is teaching?"

"No," Harry said rubbing his eyes. Ginny looked at him as if to ask 'no?' "I mean, they weren't teaching any curses. Do you mind if we talk about his tomorrow. I'm really tired." Ginny nodded.

"Alright, do you mind if I walk you to your room?" Ginny asked. Harry shrugged. She had never offered to do that before.

Ginny's body was warm against Harry's side. She had her arm wrapped around his waist and Harry had his arm across her shoulders. The two of them walked up the stairs and down the hall to Harry's room. It was almost dream like. Harry's brain seemed to have completely signed off.

At last the two of them stopped at Harry's door.

"Thanks. Goodnight, Gin," Harry said reaching for the handle. Ginny put her hand against the door to keep Harry from opening it.

"Harry," Ginny said, "we have to talk."

"Gin, I'm really tired, can we talk tomorrow." Harry said feeling a little annoyed. Surly she wasn't going to try and squeeze the details about the meeting out of him tonight.

"I think we should talk now," Ginny said firmly taking Harry's bicep tightly, three was urgency in her voice. Harry was startled awake by her forcefulness.

"What' wrong?" Harry asked looking at her concerned. Ever since he had seen the vision of the future his senses seemed to be alert whenever Ginny did anything around him as though he was waiting for her to attack.

"I want to know how you feel about me." Ginny said looking up into Harry's eyes. Harry's brain whirled for a second.

"I'm becoming and Animagus because I love you Harry," Ginny said searching Harry's eyes. "Because I want to be with you and do things with you do. But if you don't feel the same about me I want to know right now." Harry's full attention came forward. She was serious and this was no time to be half asleep.

"Gin," Harry said stalling for time. After all that had happened he wasn't sure how he felt. Ginny was a friend, sure, but did Harry really love her? Or was she just some place for him to let out his thoughts and tensions, just someone who would listen to him. "You're… important to me… and I… I just don't know right now. I don't want to say something stupid and lose you. But I'm afraid. I'm not sure I can give you the love you want and deserve, at least not right now."

Ginny didn't break her eye contact. She continued to look at Harry as though trying to will more words out of him. Harry wasn't sure if she hated or understood him.

"Tomorrow Harry," Ginny said. "I am going to become an Animagus." Harry was taken aback, tomorrow? They had only been training for two weeks.

"Already?" Harry asked. "Are you sure you want to do this so quickly?

"I'm ready now," Ginny said. "The question is, are you?" She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the side of his face. "Goodnight." Harry put his palm against the kiss as though trying to keep it on his cheek. Ginny smiled up at him then turned and walked away down the hallway. Harry stood watching her until she vanished down the stairs.

* * *

Authors Notes:

And thus is chapter 22, OMG 22 that's like 19 more chapters then I have ever written in my life! Well no that not entirely true. But it is a long story that for sure. I didn't even hit what this chapter was supposed to be about! OMG my hair it's falling out! No wait that's just me pulling it out! HA HAHAHAHA HAH HA AHAHA HA (crazy laughter continues for 37 minutes)

(later) Seriously I am so stressed trying to get this thing done before the 16th (which I totally don't see happening) cuze today is like the 6th so that only gives me 10 days to write like ten chapters, yeah, so not going to happen. Must… condense… story… and… takeout… random… thoughts!

None of which will happen so it gets done as fast as it gets done. I might have to put off reading book 6 so that I don't spoil my own vision.

Darn my slow typing! Damn you mind work faster type non stop till my eyes bleed…ewww okay maybe not.

So chapter 23 coming soon and I swear I will get what needs to be done done in chapter 23… HA HAHAHAHA HAH HA AHAHA HA (crazy laughter continues for 42 minutes)

Side Note: (A note that is sideways)

For those of you who haven't noticed 42 appears quite a lot, mostly in my authors notes, but in some places in the story. 42 is 'the answer to life the universe and everything' as written by author Douglas Adams in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. If you have never heard the original radio show it's worth your time to buy, rent (from you local library), or download illegally online.

The book is okay, the movie is cute, but it's all about the radio show.

Adams' work has had a great impact on my life and humor. To me he was a god.

---

Coming soon… the next chapter! Presented in Web-o-Vision! With Web-o-Vision you can read you stories on the web without having to pay for them! Because crazy authors do this stuff for free!


	23. – Nightmare

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 23 – Nightmare

The next day was not something Harry had been looking forward too. He hadn't been able to sleep all night long. His conversation with Ginny bounced around in his head invading his other thoughts. Harry had tried to sleep, he really had, but every time he closed his eyes there she was, standing with the strange black tattoos all over her body and giant red eyes hovering behind her.

As soon as the sun was visible outside his window Harry left for breakfast. At first he wanted to eat quickly to avoid bumping into Ginny, however he found himself waiting all the way up till the last bell rang, telling him to get his ass to class.

Ginny had not arrived for breakfast nor had Hermione. Harry was wondering if they were avoiding him. Had Hermione told Ginny about what had happened in her room last night? Did she know? Was that what this was all about? Harry didn't know.

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall said hitting the edge of his desk with her wand. "You could at least pretend to pay attention!" Harry sat back in his seat. He had been resting his head on his desk, lost in his own thoughts.

"Now, the steps for self transfiguration are very difficult," Professor McGonagall continued as she walked down the rows. Harry glanced after her. Sitting in the back of the room was Hermione. Her eyes were trying to avoid Harry, she looked very nervous. Sweat was running down her face and she bounced in her seat like she couldn't sit still. She had to know. He had to talk to her, to explain it had been an accident.

Professor McGonagall's waist suddenly blocked Harry's view. She looked sternly down at him.

"I'm not sure what has come over you of late Potter," McGonagall said, "but this behavior is not acceptable. Stay after class, I would like a word with you." Harry turned and looked forward slumping in his seat. It was already starting out to be a prefect day.

---

Harry walked with his hands in his pockets. He had been able to 'explain' that he was just having issues at the moment, what with Ron attacking him and all. McGonagall bought it, which made Harry feel bad. It was only sort of true but that wasn't what was bothering him.

Being kept after class Harry had missed his chance to talk to Hermione. The moment the bell had rung she sprinted out of the classroom. Hermione was not in any of his other classes that day and Harry briefly had a flash of her up in her room crying. Luckily the rest of his teachers didn't seem to notice that he was not paying attention to them and Harry was able to make it though the rest of the day.

At last dinner came, Harry saw it as his only chance to find Hermione and talk with her about what had happened. But Harry never made it to dinner. Ginny cut him off outside his last class and held him back until the hallway was clear.

"Ginny," Harry asked. "Where've you been all day, you weren't at breakfast or lunch and I couldn't find you between class."

Ginny looked around. "I had to get something," Ginny said. "It took a lot of time," she pulled from her pocket a small vial filled with a pink liquid. Harry looked at it and realized what it was.

"The animagus potion? Ginny where did you get that?" Harry asked.

"Nicked it," Ginny giggled. "From Snape's office, he put up a lot of magical protection because people have been stealing from him, and this was really hard to get to, but he shouldn't be any wiser to it missing." Ginny pushed the vial back into her robe.

"Harry," she said very seriously, "are you ready?" Harry swallowed hard and nodded.

"I want to be with you Gin," Harry said. Ginny nodded and grabbed Harry's hand pulling him along behind her.

The two of them ended up outside. The sun had just set and it was becoming dark. Ginny pulled Harry all the way to the edge of the forbidden forest.

"We should be safe here, no one comes out this far, especially at night," Ginny said. Harry nodded as he shivered slightly. It was a bit cold out tonight. Ginny put her hands on Harry's arms. "Harry I need you to focus, I need you to help."

"Need me to help do what?" Harry asked confused. Finding an animagus form was up to the person becoming an animagus, Harry wasn't sure what he could do to help.

"Once I drink this potion you need to enter my mind. Because you're already an animagus you can ward off any form I don't want and help me find my magical form." Ginny said. Harry wasn't sure if he had any clue how to do that.

"We have a problem though," Harry said pulling out his school wand. "This piece of junk doesn't work most of the time." Ginny nodded and pulled out her wand.

"You can use mine, it's not the same as your old wand but it should do better. I find it especially good when working with dreams." Ginny said handing her wand to Harry. Ginny's wand was a little too small for Harry's hand but as he took hold of it he could instantly feel the difference from the school wand. "Alright, ready?" Ginny asked pulling the vial out of her robe and sitting down against a tree.

"Ready," Harry said pointing Ginny's wand at her. Ginny uncorked the bottle and downed the concoction inside. Harry waited a moment. Something in his mind told him it wasn't a good idea to mix magics like this but he didn't have much of a choice now.

"_Legilimens_!" Harry said. For the first time since his wand had been broken Harry felt real magic flow from his fingers. He felt himself rush forward. Ginny was very tall, she was standing next to Harry, who realized, wasn't Harry any longer. He had become Talon at some point. With a flap of his wings Talon hovered up next to Ginny.

She seemed very focused, much more so than Talon remembered himself being. The area also seemed different. When Talon had done this there had been no terrain, just black fog, but here there seemed to be forest everywhere. Animals began to appear. Each colored much like one another, having some part of their fur or feathers bright red.

"No," Ginny said looking at all of them. "I don't want any of these." As though the animals had heard her they began to move closer trying to press themselves upon her. "Harry, up! Take me up!" She reached out and caught one of his legs.

With a powerful flap of his wings Talon pulled her away from the ground breaking through the top of the trees. Some of the birds followed them but weren't able to keep up with Talon as he flew across the treetops.

"Over there!" Ginny said pointing off into the distance. Talon was able to make out a trail of fire moving across the top of the trees. At first he thought it might be a phoenix but whatever was making the flames didn't seem to be flying it seemed to be running.

"Faster!" Ginny cried. "Don't let it get away! I only have one shot to catch it." Talon wasn't sure he wanted to catch it, or that he wanted Ginny to catch it but he wasn't going to ruin this for her. He owed her too much.

Talon beat his wings faster. The trail of fire changed directions trying to get away. What kind of animal left trails of fire in the sky?

Talon was almost on top of it now. The animal had a large black body and mane of flickering red flame. It looked like some kind of a stallion but Talon had never seen anything like it. Suddenly the animal leapt from the top of the trees and began to run on a trail of fire up into the sky. Harry couldn't see any wings but it flew all the same.

They were almost on top of the beast then suddenly there was a stab of pain. Talon's wings began to change back into hands. Ginny was becoming heavy. Harry shuddered and fell to the ground dropping Ginny's wand, his scar searing with pain.

"Not now damn it!" Harry hissed. His hand flew up to press against his scar knocking the glasses from his face. The pain was almost overpowering but Harry had to fight it he had to get up, he had to help Ginny. Harry's hand fumbled around as he tried to find the fallen wand or his glasses, but he couldn't see the ground. Everything looked like the same black blur.

At last his fingers touched the cold metal rim of his glasses. Harry pushed them onto his face. Ginny was still leaning against the tree, her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly. Maybe he still had time. Harry looked around and found her wand a short distance away. Harry stretched out his arm and picked it up.

"_Legi_…" Harry began but Ginny opened her eyes. Harry lowered the wand. "Ginny, I'm so sorry, it was Voldemort… and my scar it…" Ginny smiled at him.

"I did it Harry, I caught it!" Ginny said weakly a smile on her lips. Her eyes were half closed and she looked as though she was on the edge of sleep. Harry moved over to her. "Thank you," Ginny whispered as she closed her eyes.

---

Harry carried her in his arms back to the Gryffindor tower. She was breathing softly against his chest and for a brief moment he wondered what she was dreaming about.

To Harry's surprise Hermione was waiting in the common room for them. She looked very worried and was pacing back and forth as they entered. As Harry aproched she looked up, startled by his presence. She shook her head but didn't say anything. With a forceful hand she took Harry by his bicep and pulled him along behind her up the girl's stairs. Harry waited for the horrible moment when a wailing would come and they would slide down but nothing of the sort happened.

"How come…" Harry started.

"Because I am escorting you," Hermione said, her voice sounded strained. Harry nodded. He wasn't sure why he had asked. He had already known the answer. They arrived at Ginny's room and Harry set her down in her bed. Hermione closed and locked the door. Luckily, all of Ginny's roommates were elsewhere at the moment and they had the room to themselves.

"I know that you helped her become an animagus tonight," Hermione said turning from the door to look at Harry, her face looked very panicked. For a brief moment Harry thought she might burst into tears. "Which means that at some point she's going to transform into her new form, right here in this room. You're lucky she didn't transform on the way up."

"Hermione," Harry blurted out, "I can explain." Harry said.

"That's the problem," Hermione said, she sounded annoyed. "You don't think about the things you do, you just do them."

"Hermione, I'm sorry I…" Harry tried. Hermione closed distance with Harry and did the last thing he was expecting, kissed him full on the mouth. There was a long moment of silence as her fingers dug into the back of his skull. At last Harry broke the kiss. His face was full of surprise and his face was red. "Hermione what's gotten into you!" Harry said searching her face. She didn't look at all like herself.

"You have," Hermione said backing away and running a hand through her hair. She began to pace. "And I can't get you out. I can't stop listening even though I want to. You're there, all the time, talking in the back of my mind."

"What?" Harry said. He didn't understand. Hermione was starting to frighten him as she paced back and forth like she had done down stairs. She looked like she was about to have some sort of a nervous breakdown.

"Don't you understand!" Hermione said. She looked crazed with madness now. "Something… connected…. _us_." She waved her had between herself and Harry to emphasize her point as if words had failed her. "But you don't understand …. of course." Harry shook his head. He had never seen her like this before. It was like she had total lost her mind. Her emotions seemed to cycle from one to another in seconds.

"When I was in your head," Hermione said grabbing the sides of Harry's face, "something happened, somehow our minds were connected." Hermione said looking into Harry's eyes as though she were trying to beam the information into his mind. To Harry's surprised it felt like that was exactly what she did.

"Like me and Voldemort," Harry said with realization. "Except with you and me the door to you is always open. You can hear everything, all at once, all at the same time?"

"Its like you're shouting into my head," Hermione said shivering and looking away. "At first I thought it was just an aftereffect of the accident. I was able to block it out to ignore it. But it's become worse, Harry, and some times, like right now it's too much for me. Harry I can hear everything! You're shouting into my head." Hermione clapped her hands over her ears and fell to her knees. Harry stood shaking. He could hear her, he could feel her pain. It hadn't been Voldemort that had caused his scar to hurt it had been Hermione. She was terrified.

Harry knelt down next to her wrapping his arms around her. How could he have done this to her? How could he have let this happen? He had to make it stop, there had to be a way to break the connection.

"You can't!" Hermione said pulling away and pushing Harry off her. She backpedaled away almost running along the floor on her butt, finally colliding with the side of Ginny's bed. "I've already tried! You can't make the voices go away and I'm not strong enough to keep them quiet!"

There was a sudden burst of pain in Harry's scar. "Hermione," Harry said pressing his hand against. "You need to calm down."

"Look what I've done Harry, I'm so sorry!" Hermione cried as tears began to roll down her face. She held out her hand towards Harry as though trying to reach for him. The pain was enormous. Harry had never felt anything like this before save for the curisatus curse. Hermione might have him screaming inside her head but it was like she was driving a spike into his. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Hermione coughed as she cried. Her hand fell slowly down as she watch Harry wincing in pain.

Harry fell to his side. Blinding white pain was pushing the life out of him. Harry's eyes began to close. He couldn't keep conscious anymore. A black tunnel began to engulf the room. The last things he saw before the darkness of pain overtook him were Hermione crying and a burst of flame erupting from Ginny's bed.

---

"Harry?" Harry opened one eye. Everything seemed so bright. Harry opened his other eye. The pain in his scar was gone. Harry sat up and looked around. He had expected the hospital wing, or even the floor of Ginny's room but he hadn't expected this. White clouds surrounded him and a very bright sun was gave everything a surreal glow.

Ginny was standing next to him. She was dressed all in black. Her hands and feet had flames wrapped around them, but she was smiling. Her red hair wasn't just red it seemed to be made of flames.

"I'm not sure I want to ask what's going on," Harry said. Rolling his feet over the edge of the cloud bed. "I'm not dead am I?"

"Of course not," Ginny giggled. "You're in a safe place. I'm trying to sort out the mess in your head."

"The mess in my head?" Harry asked confused.

"So many people have tampered with you that your thoughts are falling apart." Ginny said.

"And you tampering with it more is going to help how?" Harry asked. Ginny continued to smile.

"Thanks to you it's something I am quite suited for now," Ginny said. Harry looked at the fire on her hands, feet and hair.

"What's with the fire?" Harry asked pointing. "It's kind of creeping me out." Ginny remained perfectly still but her eyes looked down at her hands.

"Its part of my animagus form, I can move between dreams as an ethereal being," Ginny said. "The fire just sort of comes along for the ride. Hold on, brace yourself." Harry was about to ask, 'brace myself for what?' but he hadn't had time. The ground was no longer solid, not that clouds were solid to begin with, and Harry felt himself fall through them. The clouds rushed away. Below him was the ground. He had been here before, falling like this before. But when, he couldn't remember.

Harry's eyes snapped open he was laying on his side. Hermione had her head back against the bed, her eyes were closed. Harry pushed himself up quickly his heart was beating very fast. The dream had been so real.

A sound turned Harry's head and standing next to him was a small horse. Its hoofs were ablaze with flames and its mane flowed with red fire. For a moment Harry felt an overwhelming fear though he was not sure why. The fear passed quickly.

The horse turned its long head and its eyes looked down into Harry. Even though there was fire there too Harry could see something familiar in the horse's eyes. Something he knew, something he had seen many times.

"Ginny?" Harry asked the blazing horse. There was a pause as the horse watched Harry for a long moment and then the face began to shrink the hoofs came up from the ground and Ginny stood before Harry. She had a smile on her face and the fire in her hair and on her hands remained only a second before vanishing.

"What, what was that!" Harry said. Ginny's smile wavered a bit as she saw the fear on Harry's face.

"My animagus form is… now don't take the name the wrong way… a Nightmare," Ginny said trying to smile.

"A Nightmare?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Nightmares just have a bad reputations," Ginny said quickly. "Because dark wizards used to use them. But they are a lot like the Thestrials really. Once you look past what people have made them out to be they really are amazing creatures." Harry nodded his head was a little wavy.

"I had this strange dream about you, saying something about my head," Harry said.

"Ah, well that wasn't a dream," Ginny said with a weak smile. "That's sort of the other reason why the magical animal Nightmare and the reference to a bad dream are the same word. Dark wizards used to use Nightmares to carry them into people's dreams at night and inflict horrible images upon them. Thus the word mare, meaning horse, and night, as the in the time they appeared, became associated with bad dreams. Nightmare.

"But Nightmares have been extinct for more than two hundred years. They were hunted to death for a bone that let them jump into people's dreams…"

"Ethereal connectors," Hermione said. Harry turned quickly to see her watching them and listening. There was a weak smile on her face. Harry knelt down next to her.

"Hermione," Harry said. "You're alright." She closed her eyes, smiled and nodded slowly.

"I can't hear you any more," Hermione said.

"I was able to close the door as it were," Ginny said. "The same for your connection with Voldemort. But I couldn't remove, and they won't stay closed forever."

"Thank you," Harry said standing and embracing Ginny. He felt her arms wrap around him. "I would be lost without you Gin."

---

Harry and Ginny had helped Hermione back up to her room and after Ginny helped her into bed she walked Harry back to his room. He wasn't sure how late it was but the common room had been empty. The two of them stood outside the door. Harry held Ginny in his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"Thank you," Ginny said. Her arms wrapped around Harry. Harry smiled.

"You did it on your own, Gin," Harry said. "I just stood by your side." Harry leaned her back, his hands clasped gently on her shoulders, and looked down into her eyes. He finally knew what the look in the back of her eyes was. It was love. Love only for him. Harry leaned forward and kissed her passionately. Tonight would be the night he would tell her everything. Tell her exactly how he felt about her.

A beeping noise sounded. Harry tried to ignore it. This was one of the first truly romantic moments of his life. The beeping noise sounded again. Harry broke the kiss. Ginny looked a little put out too. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the black muggle device. He wasn't sure how to work it but since there was only one button on it couldn't be that hard to use. Harry pressed the button.

"What?" Harry said annoyed.

"Sorry if were interrupting anything kid," the voice said on the other end. "but were moving tonight, and we need an answer." Harry hadn't had time to talk it over with anyone yet. Hermione was most likely asleep by now, and Ron was mile away. Ginny was the only person here he could talk to about this.

"One second," Harry said releasing the button. Harry let out a sigh. "Ginny I meant to talk about this earlier with you but I couldn't find you and I didn't want this to interrupt us and…" Ginny put a finger on Harry's mouth and gave him a look that said 'slow down and explain.' "Remember the group called ELF?" Ginny nodded.

"My brother's stupid comic books," Ginny said.

"Well they're real," Harry said pointing at the handheld device. "They are offering us training in muggle fighting and special equipment but I haven't accepted. I wanted to see what you and Hermione thought first but I just didn't have time to ask!"

Ginny thought for a long moment. "Do you trust them?" She asked.

"I don't know," Harry said honestly. "I only met them yesterday. But I think they were the ones that attacked Voldemort in Nocturn Alley a month ago."

"Well I think we need all the help we can get," Ginny said seriously. "If you think they can help us then we should accept." Harry nodded.

"Alright," Harry said pressing down the button, "we accept. Our next meeting is this Friday."

"Glad to hear it, take care buddy." The voice said. Harry put the device back in his pocket.

"Gin," Harry said apologetically. "I'm sorry I didn't think, I didn't know they would call right now." Ginny put her arms around Harry's waist and leaned against him. Harry put his arms behind her back. He wasn't sure how long they stood like that but Harry felt Ginny beginning to slide down his body as she drifted off to sleep. Harry gave her a little shake

"Sorry," Ginny yawned smiling up at him.

"I think we both need to get some sleep." Harry said with a weary smile. "Want me to walk you back to your dorm?"

"Oh don't be silly, the moment you let got of me the walls will start shrieking." Ginny giggled.

"Well," Harry said slyly. "You could always stay here."

"Are you asking me to sleep with you?" Ginny asked in mock surprise. Harry's face turned red. That wasn't what he had meant at all. He was trying to be romantic and meant she could stay here in his arms. Ginny pushed herself up on tiptoe and whispered into his ear. "I won't tell if you don't." Either because his brain had frozen from lack of sleep or from some primal lust he put up no resistance as Ginny pulled open the door to Harry's dorm room and pulled him inside behind her.

---

It had been another night without sleep for Harry, two in a row. But he wasn't feeling tired. Ginny had fallen asleep in his arms as they lay together in his bed. It hadn't been more than cuddling but Harry had been so excited he hadn't been able to fall asleep.

Ginny on the other hand had been so comfortable that almost as soon as she was in bed and Harry's arms were around her she had drifted off. Her body was warm against his as they lay under the covers together. It was a warmness Harry had never felt before. And it was something he never thought he would feel. Not with anyone, not with Ginny.

That had been the thing that had kept him awake. Her presence was both soothing and frightening at the same time. The image of Ginny with fire on her hands kept replaying through his mind. It was what he had seen in the future. But it wasn't the future Harry reminded himself. Still, why was he so afraid of it?

Ginny was not going to become evil. Voldemort was not going to win. Harry hugged Ginny tighter against him. She moved slightly at his embrace but did not wake. Like the vision on Avalon Harry had seen something in the dream about the future. He had seen something he would ensure would never come to pass.

---

Ron returned Thursday, just in time to make the final practice before the big Quidditch match next week. Ron seemed much more his old self. Harry guessed that he and Hermione had made up some time earlier that day because they had been much more friendly with each other. Things seemed to finally be going right, for once—back to the way they should be.

Quidditch practice went flawlessly. Ron stopped every shot launched at him and Ginny led the chasers like an admiral commanding a fleet. All in all if everything went as planned they would smash the Slytherins into the ground. Melanie surely would at the very least.

The only dark spot in Harry's Thursday was a return letter from Mr. Olivander, Harry's broken wand halves enclosed within.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I am sorry to inform you that you wand has been damaged beyond repair. It would be best for you to come down and select a new wand at your convenience._

_Signed _

_Odrien Olivander_

That was it then, his wand was gone for good. Harry would have to go to Olivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley and find a new wand. But would any other wand work as well as his old wand had? Harry doubted very much that it was so. He had tried many different wands before finding his and it had been the brother wand for Voldemort that had finally chosen him. With the exception of perhaps Voldemort's wand there could never be another one like it. And Harry doubted very much that Voldemort would just give Harry his wand.

And then it struck him. The core had been a tail feather from Fawks. Why couldn't Harry just ask for another feather? And then as though he was blind Harry realized that he was a Phoenix, he could use his own tail feather! Harry wasn't sure if it was even possible to do but he made a mental note to ask Hermione about it at the next DA meeting.

---

Harry paced nervously. Hermione, Ron and Ginny had all arrived early for the DA meeting. Harry had called Lilith on the muggle device, which Hermione had be certain shouldn't work almost an hour ago but she still wasn't here. Members would be arriving at any moment.

"The real ELF?" Ron asked again unable to control his disbelief and excitement.

"Only one member," Harry said. "That's all they could leave behind for us."

"Harry," Ginny said taking Harry's arm to stop him from pacing. "You're driving us crazy hun stop that." Harry smiled down at her.

"Sorry," Harry said and he kissed her on the top of the head. Harry had expected a protest from Ron but none came. Harry looked at him expectantly. "Ron?"

"I've decided mate," Ron said sternly. "It's your business, not mine."

"Well…" Harry started with a chuckle. The door to the DA room opened. Harry spun around. Ginny already had her wand out. Four large black floating crates hovered into the room.

"Sorry I'm late," said a disembodied voice. "Lots of foot traffic around during the day and I couldn't risk being seen." The crates lowered themselves to the floor and a female outline appeared. A moment later the air rippled and Lilith pulled the black mask off her face. "Hope I didn't worry you too much."

Harry hopped off the stage, Ginny following right beside him, and moved over to the crates on the floor.

"How were you able to carry all these?" Harry asked looking at the black plastic crates. Lilith smiled and patted her bicep.

"Exo power suit, makes me about eight times as strong. Not much for battery life though especially with RLCD on."

"But none of those things should work!" Hermione said from Harry's other side. "Muggle devices and such don't function correctly around magic." Lilith smiled.

"That's right, magical energy scrambles most electronic equipment. But this stuff is designed to work with magic—Even draws power from some of it." Lilith said holding out her arm. A small barely visible display was upside-down across her forearm. Harry couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Don't worry I'll show you how to work this stuff in no time. My dad and I helped build most of it." Lilith knelt down and opened one of the crates. "I don't know how many members you have, but I brought a lot of stuff. It should be enough for everyone. If you need more it shouldn't be a problem."

Inside the first crate there were many tiny silver circles that had circular cuts in them. Inside the next crate were long black gloves that looked almost like dragon scale almost. In the third crate were lots of black shiny squares, made of some kind of cloth. And in the fourth crate were black shiny squares made of rubber.

"Batons," Lilith said pointing at the first crate of metal circles. "Shields," she indicated the second crate. "RLCD suits," she motioned to the third crate. "And power suits," her hand moved over the fourth crate. "Best anti magic gear in the world."

Lilith knelt down and pulled one of the silver circles from the first crate.

"Titanium, Mythiral Extendable Charged Batons, Bats for short." Lilith said, she flicked her wrist and the baton extended out to the floor. Harry heard the same powering up sound and the baton glowed blue. "Light fast and deadly. You have at least ten to twelve charged shots. Baton charges automatically when extended and between hits. Charging takes 1 and half seconds and delivers 700 volts of charge into a target. Enough to knock anyone to the ground. It's still very effective once all the charges are used. To deactivate the charge flick the blue switch on the handle up." Lilith flicked the switch on the side to up and the low humming sound that Harry hadn't been aware of until it now, stopped. Lilith flicked her wrist and the baton shrunk back into a circle. She placed it back in the crate.

"High Power Electro Static Shields," Lilith said pulling one of the long black gloves from the box and sliding it onto her forearm. The glove was large and bulky much like the metal plate gloves on the suits of armor around the castle. "Finger position activates," she squeezed her hand and four prongs like an umbrella sprung out of the glove. A blue glowing circle appeared across the prongs finishing the umbrella with a translucent shield. The humming was much louder this time and Lilith shut it off before talking. "Good for at least five hits from projectile or magical attacks. Not all magic can be deflected so its up to you to know what can and cannot be stopped." Lilith pulled the glove off and put it back in the crate.

"Redirectional Liquid Crystal Displays," Lilith said. "Using advanced imagining technology it literally makes you see through. Less effective at close rage or in brightly lit areas and you'll still have a shadow.

"Power Suits," Lilith said indicating the last crate. "Will make you physical stronger, faster and also has minor protection against projectile weapons. Very heavy and once power runs out you'll have forty pounds extra on you."

"So any questions?" Lilith said beaming.

"Yeah," Ron asked. "Could you explain everything you just said?"

---

It was Harry's turn to be a student again as Lilith, or as she insisted Harry call her, Lil, showed the DA members the basics. Harry explained that this would be part of their training. That magic wouldn't be the only weapon they had now.

Many of the members seemed to take quickly to this. Neville was a bit less adept at using a baton but his shield skill seemed almost natural. He was surprised at how fast the members learned the basics. Lil was a good teacher and knew her stuff.

It was midnight when Harry checked the clock and rushed everyone back to bed. They left the crates of equipment in the room of requirement but Harry kept a baton with him. He had been fairly good with it, not as exceptional as some of the students but still fairly decent. He didn't feel entirely defenseless anymore.

Ginny pulled Harry back as the four of them made their way back towards the dormitories. It was very late but the map showed that the coast was clear.

Ron and Hermione were walking up front. Harry had given Hermione the map to watch out for any trouble. Ginny was walking beside Harry. She pulled something from her pocket.

"I have a present for you," Ginny said holding up a small glass vial. Inside it was what looked like yellow-red fire.

"Uh, thanks," Harry said taking it. The vial was cool to the touch. The flame didn't seem to be burning anything, it just filled the vial like some kind of liquid.

"It's Nightmare flame," Ginny said. "None exist anymore but it's very valuable I was thinking you could use it for you new wand." Harry had told them all before the DA meeting, while they had waited for Lilith, about his idea for his new wand. Ron had thought it was an awesome idea. Hermione seemed impressed but Ginny had just smiled knowingly.

"I don't see how," Harry said lowering the vial, "I was going to use one of my tail feathers, I already told you all that." Oddly enough Ginny smiled.

"Of course you are silly. Nightmare flame isn't used for a wand core, you add it to a magical item to make it stronger," Ginny said shaking her head. "Send the vial and the feather, I'm sure Mr. Olivander will know what to do with it."

Harry nodded and kissed Ginny on the head.

"First thing tomorrow Gin," Harry said.

* * *

Authors Notes:

TadDa Chapter 23. Not much on the Authors notes here today because I am a bit busy working on the next couple of chapters. I hope you all enjoyed this.

Readers and reviewers thank you for sticking with me. I am doing my best to provide you all with a story that is entertaining and fun to read.

Remember that reviews help me fine tune my story so don't be afraid to leave more than one. I always enjoy reading reviews.

Coming soon, chapter 24, most likely on Sunday.


	24. – Don’t Believe Everything you See

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 24 – Don't Believe Everything you See

Harry had sent off another letter to Mr. Olivander, this time enclosing a phoenix tail feather, from his animagus self and the vial of Nightmare flame from Ginny. He wasn't entirely sure if Olivander would be able to us either of the items but it was worth a try at the very least as his school wand was becoming, if possible, worse.

The week moved by quickly. His lessons seemed dull since he was unable to take a practical part in any of his magical classes requiring a wand. Leaving only Harry's least favorite classes, such as potions and a history of magic, for Harry to take an active part in.

Harry had been hoping that Solaris would be teaching more wandless spells, but he had not done so in their Monday class. It wasn't a boring lesson by any means, Harry just wasn't content to sit and take notes in a class that involved launching objects at people. Particularly since Malfoy was in the room.

The following day was Hagrid's magical creatures class. Hagrid seemed especially cheerful this lesson, which Harry knew was always bad news. The lesson had gone well at first until Hagrid produced the creature they were to be studying. A small floating orb like creature with many eyes.

The lesson had ended with Hagrid wrestling it into a sack and hiding it back inside his cabin. It had still been more pleasant than their visit from the goblin at the start of the year.

Harry hung back after class. He had hadn't visited with Hargid for a long time and he wasn't overly excited to get to his next class, where he knew he would be sitting and taking notes. He also had a question for Hagrid, something that had occurred to him during class but he still wasn't sure he wanted to ask. Hagrid spotted Harry and waved him over.

"Doin alright 'arry?" Hagrid asked putting a large heavy hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry smiled up at the large man. He hadn't talked with Hagrid a long time and Harry had almost forgotten how much liked being around him.

"Uh, yeah," Harry said. "how've you been Hagrid, I'm sorry I haven't come to visit you lately."

"That's alright 'arry," Hagrid said. "I've been fine thought I had a bit of trouble with the centaurs a couple weeks ago, after Ferenze came into class. But otherwise things 'ave been okay. I sent a letter off to the Seraphim asking if one might be willing to fly down to talk to us, but I 'aven't 'eard anything back from em yet. Though I don't really expect one to come, they don't like wizards much."

"Yeah," Harry said distractedly thinking about Solaris. So Dumbledore hadn't told the other teachers about him. Or they knew, but were told to keep it a secret, something Hagrid wasn't very good at. "Hey Hagrid I have a question about a magical creature," Harry said trying to form up the thoughts in his head.

"About Blinkly?" Hagrid said jerking his thumb over his shoulder at his hut. Blinky had been the name Hagrid had given to the monster they had seen in class today. A vicious little thing called a beholder. Fully grown they could shoot deadly rays from their eyes causing everything form extreme pain to death and even turning people to stone.

"No," Harry said shaking his head, "about another magical creature."

"Well, I'll tryen answer it for ya if I can," Hagrid smiled. "Which creature did you 'ave in mind?"

"I was wondering," Harry said. He was starting to feel guilty about what he was going to ask. "Do you know anything about Nightmares? The horse, I mean." Harry added quickly.

"Nightmares eh?" Hagrid said rubbing his beard. For the first time ever Harry was sure he saw a look of distress in Hagrid's eyes. "Well, they're extinct for one, mind you even if they weren't I wouldn't bring one to class, Nightmares are bad luck." Harry felt his stomach turn. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear any more of this. But Harry just stood there nodding for Hagrid to continue.

"They're demon horses from the astral plane. Can walk right into your dreams as you sleep," Hagrid shivered. "Makes me shiver just thinking about them."

"So they're evil?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.

"Well not evil in any way we would understand. They feed on bad dreams," Hagrid said. "I guess if you were to say Unicorns were 'good' then, yeah, Nightmares would be 'evil' I guess. After all dark wizards used to use them ya know, to put fear in people's hearts. Horses of fire fly'n through the sky on a trail of flame would be enough to frighten anyone I guess. They also had powerful magic in um, making um very resistant to magical attacks. But they've been hunted to extinction."

"Thanks," Harry said dully.

"Uh any time, 'arry," Hagrid said confused as Harry walked away.

---

Harry had not been able to pay attention in any other class that day. He cursed himself for even asking such a thing. Was he looking for an excuse to fight with Ginny? An excuse to hate her?

Or was it something else. Something that Hermione had told him once. Was he trying to make the future he had seen come true? No! Harry told himself. Why would he ever want those horrible things to happen? Even still, the image of Ginny that had been all but lost over the last week was becoming more prominent in his mind after his conversation with Hagrid. And when he closed his eyes horrible images almost always seemed to be waiting for him.

Harry ignored the warnings in his head, ignored the dark things that he saw. They weren't real. It was just his mind being paranoid. He wouldn't let things that hadn't happened, and wouldn't happen, interfere in his relationship with Ginny any longer.

---

Quidditch practice on Thursday was not practice at all. Instead Harry sat his team down and talked about the strategy they would use on Saturday in their match with Slytherin. Harry was confident they could win the game if they stuck to the plan. He did his best not to make this meeting like one of Woods pep talks that he'd had to endure in the past. But all the same he found himself pacing back and forth in front of them near the end of the meeting. Talking much less about the strategy of winning and much more about beating Slytherin, and how he knew they could do it.

His team was eager and ready and Harry was starting to feel excited about the match. He had a good feeling that they were going to win this and send the Slytherin team home crying.

---

Friday was a nervous day for Harry. He had still not received a letter back from Mr. Olivander yet and he was beginning to worry about getting his new wand. That, along with the coming Quidditch game put him on edge all through breakfast. It would be the first time his new team would compete against anyone else. And even though he was very confident in their abilities he didn't know how they would do in a real game.

However after breakfast Harry had little time to worry about such things. He, Ron and Hermione headed up towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. But when Harry arrived he found that the door to the room was not there and that no other students waiting in the hallway.

For a moment Harry thought he had taken a wrong turn but when he looked over to ask Hermione he found that she wasn't standing next to him anymore. Neither was Ron. It was like they had both vanished into thin air. Harry felt panic for a moment. Was this some sort of trap? Harry reached inside his robe taking hold of the metal baton, waiting for an attack.

When none came Harry pulled his wits back about him. This had to be another one of Solaris' illusions. Somehow he had hidden Harry's friends and the class room. Looking at the doors on either side of a blank stone wall where room 412 should be, Harry was able to read the room numbers 411 and 413.

Harry racked his brain trying to think of what it could be and what he needed to do next. Finding his friends was the first thing he should try and do. However, not even knowing what kind of illusion this was, Harry had no idea how to even go about finding anyone. But Harry already knew the answer. It was there, in his mind but for some reason he couldn't reach it. It was almost like the memory wasn't inside his head. Like it was just behind his skull out of reach of his brain.

Harry put his hand against the stone. He had to think. Illusions, he knew, only lasted as long as the perception of something was real. If Solaris had used some kind of concealment spell to hide the door then feeling the wall should break the illusion for Harry. The wall however was solid stone and Harry could find no doors between rooms 411 and 413.

Harry took a step back examining the wall. Even if the door was concealed here it didn't explain where Hermione and Ron had vanished off to.

The next step was deduction. If he could figure out what it couldn't be then he would be left with only with what it must be. The problem of course was that Harry wasn't sure he knew enough about illusion spells to stumble upon the right one.

"Okay," Harry said thinking aloud. "The door isn't here. But how do you move an entire room?" Nothing was coming to mind. Harry looked around for more hints and noticed the biggest one of all. There was no one else here. The last time Solaris had preformed an illusion like this the whole class had been trapped in it. So, if Harry was standing where the door should be, why wasn't anyone else?

Had Solaris decided that only Harry should be faced with the challenge of overcoming this illusion? That didn't seem likely.

Harry turned slowly searching the hallway for a sign of anything or anyone else. He noticed something odd about the doors that had been behind him. They also read 411 and 413, the same numbers as the ones directly across from them. Harry turned around to look at the other set of doors. They still read 411 and 413.

Something was starting to form in Harry's head. He knew what was going on but at the same time he didn't. Like his mind was holding back the answer to the question 'guess what?' and asking him over and over, 'do you give up yet?'

"No," Harry said softly turning and walking slowly down the hall. Every pair of doors on every side read 411 and 413. Harry reached a staircase and moved down a floor. The doors here also read 411 and 413. Some of Gryffindor students from Harry's Defense against the Dark Arts class were walking around down here. Many looked relieved to see Harry.

"Oh, Harry," Lavender cried as the group moved up to him. "We've been wondering around for fifteen minutes now and we can't find the class. We think Professor Solaris did something to hide it." Harry nodded. He counted eleven Gryffindor students here and no Slytherins.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Every door seems have turned into rooms 411 and 413."

"We tried going into a couple of the rooms, but they're all locked and we can't seem to get them open with magic." Seamus said. Something in Harry's head clicked, almost like he had unlocked the door to the answer.

"It's a misplacement charm," Harry said smiling. "For us all the doors look the same. And we can't open them because they're not the right way out of the charm."

"So how do find the right door? How do we… get out?" Seamus asked.

"Well," Harry said thinking, information seemed to be flowing much faster to him now. "The charm has a very short life span, an hour at most. But we should be able to get out by taking any door that isn't one of these." Harry said pointing at rooms 411 and 413.

"Except," Lavender said. "That every door is a 411 or a 413."

"Well then, we will just have to change that," Harry pulled out his school wand and pointed it at the nearest door number. "_Eraducus._" Harry said. Nothing happened. "Fucking piece of junk," Harry put the wand back in his pocket and moved over to the door, tapping the numbers with his finger and whispering, "_Eraducus_."

The numbers glowed white for a moment and then sunk away. Harry drew with his finger the numbers four, one, two into the door, took hold of the handle and pushed the door open.

Ron and Hermione were already seated inside and Solaris was leaning against his desk at the front of the classroom. It appeared that no one else had made it yet.

"Ah," Solaris said waving them in. "You're late, go a head and take a seat. It seems that most of the class is still having a bit of trouble finding the room."

Harry moved up rows of desks and sat next to Ron, who was seated next to Hermione.

"What happened to you two?" Harry asked.

"To us?" Ron said surprised. "What happened to you, one moment you were there and the next moment you were gone."

"It was a misplacement spell," Hermione said beaming. "The professor did a really good job with it too. I realized what it was right away, of course. We would have come looking for you Harry but I was sure you could figure it out on your own."

Harry nodded thinking back. Had he figured it out on his own? For some reason he didn't think he had. A disturbing thought crossed Harry's mind.

"Hermione," Harry said. "You know that connection that Ginny said she closed between us." Hermione nodded.

"It's already opening again," Hermione said. "It's not as bad as last time though and I can't hear your voice as loudly. I really have to concentrate to hear you."

"Yeah," Harry said. "Well, I think I sort of just reached out, into your mind, and you showed me the way out." There was a little surprise in Hermione's eyes.

"So you cheated then?" She said with a smile.

---

After a half an hour of sitting Solaris finally left to go gather the rest of the students who had not been able to make it to the classroom. The rest of the lesson had been a refresher course in the basics of illusion.

As class ended Solaris warned that there would be a test the next Friday and that everyone had better study very hard for it.

Harry was thankful that Solaris had not used the misplacement charm on the great hall as Harry was very hungry as lunch rolled around. He was also looking forward to seeing Ginny.

For some reason seeing her smile put his mind at ease. It seemed to override the dark images that crept in about her whenever they were apart from each other. Harry hadn't yet told her, or anyone about the troubles in his mind. Mostly because he didn't want people to worry but really it was because he was afraid he might frighten Ginny off.

Lunch was over all too soon and Harry was not looking forward to his divinations class. Hermione had bid them a cheery farewell as she headed off to Arithmancy.

"You know," Ron said as Hermione vanished around the corner. "sometimes I think she enjoys watching us go off to divination to get tortured by Trelawney."

"Ron," Harry said with a smile. "You don't know how right you are."

When Harry and Ron arrived in the divination classroom they found that Trelawney was not to be their teacher today, instead, to Harry's great surprise, Solaris stood at the head of the room.

Harry had not been able to wait until the start of class, he had to ask Solaris what he was doing here.

"Professor," Harry asked walking up to the man in the white cloak. "Why are you here, you're not going to be teaching divination today, are you?" Solaris looked down at Harry. Something was different about him. The smile that had never seemed right, was not on his face. His eyes looked sullen. If Harry didn't know better he might think that Solaris had been crying right before class.

"I am your teacher for today, yes." Solaris said irritably. "Take a seat and I will explain when the rest of the class arrives." Harry had wanted more of an answer but Solaris' tone had a finality to it that said Harry should sit.

"He seems different," whispered Ron as Harry sat down next to him. Harry nodded. It was almost like he wasn't the same person.

"Professor Trelawney is out ill today," Solaris said quieting down the class. "So I have been asked to be your teacher.

"The art of divination is a wholly unpredictable field of magic," Solaris said looking slowly around the room at the students. "Some wizards are cursed with the gift of foresight, but they are very rare. Others will themselves to see things and then cause them to happen by believing that it is the future." Solaris took a deep breath.

"Does anyone know what this is?" Solaris pulled form his robe a small golden colored orb that had a warm inner light. Lavender raised her hand. Solaris pointed her out.

"It's a prophecy, Professor," She said with a smile.

"Yes, it is." Solaris said with an approving nod. "Prophecies are considered to be the most precise form of foresight. However they are often cryptic and their meanings are often misinterpreted. Many would argue that the real field of divination is in attempting to find the truth of a glance into the future."

Solaris held the orb up for all to see and then, producing a wand from his pocket, tapped the top of the orb gently and whispered words under his breath. The orb began to glow and from it emerged a man. His eyes were very large and his face was taunt. As he spoke his voice echoed out as though someone else were speaking it.

"As the sun sets, they move, as the stars shine, they creep, as the men leave, they follow, as the doors close, they steal." The man vanished back into the orb and Solaris put it back into his pocket.

"This message was recorded almost twenty years ago. It is a teaching tool provided by the Ministry of Magic to teach students about prophecies. Can anyone tell me what they think its meaning is?" Solaris asked. Lavender raised her hand again, Solaris pointed her out.

"Someone is stealing something at night?" She guessed.

"Perhaps," Solaris said almost like he was bored. Lavender looked uneasy. "What do you know about this man? Would knowing anything about him make the prophecy clearer in any way? Too many questions are unanswered, too many things are left to speculation. All we are left with are guesses about what it could mean.

"This particular message actually refers to cockroaches that were stealing food from this man's floor." Solaris said shaking his head. "If you try and look into the future you will see only what you want to see, not mater how plainly you might think the future is spelled out for you. By simply knowing the future, you change it."

The rest of the lesson was much less about performing divination and much more of a rant about all the bad points. Harry didn't really care much for divination but even he thought Solaris carried it a bit too far. It was almost like he hated the subject with all his heart. Why he had stepped up to teach it this day was beyond Harry.

Harry stayed behind after class. Solaris wasn't just his professor he was also a friend. And Harry could plainly tell that something was bothering him.

"Professor," Harry asked once everyone had gone. Harry had told Ron he would meet up with him at dinner. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you volunteer to teach divination. You don't seem to like it at all." Solaris looked down at Harry for a long moment considering him.

"I didn't volunteer," Solaris said. "Dumbledore asked me to fill in."

"But why you?" Harry asked. Solaris raised an eyebrow at Harry.

"Did you not think my lesson was informative?" Solaris said darkly, it was the first time Harry had ever heard a hint of anger in his voice. "Did you not learn anything?"

"No," Harry said quickly trying to make his tone sound apologetic. "That's not what I meant, I mean you… well you just seem to hate it." To Harry's surprise Solaris laughed, a genuine laugh. For a split second Solaris almost looked truly human.

"You have no idea," Solaris said the smile vanishing from his face. He looked very serious now, almost frightening. "Nothing good can come of knowing your future."

"I don't think so," Harry said defensively. "If I hadn't seen the prophecy telling about the attack on Hermione I might not have been able to help her in time."

"You don't understand," Solaris said shaking his head.

"Then tell me," Harry said. "Why do you hate divination so much?" Solaris' eyes fixed on Harry for a long moment.

"On the day I was born my mother looked into my eyes and saw my future," Solaris said. "She said that it would be my fault, that I would cause many people to die. The darkness inside me would escape and an evil not known for thousands of years would be unleashed upon the world."

"Your mother saw that in you?" Harry asked shocked.

"You misunderstand my meaning. My mother, Titania, was Queen of Avalon," Solaris said. "She had a great power of foresight."

"But it didn't come true," Harry said. "You're not evil, you don't go around killing people."

"That's not what I said," Solaris said calmly. "And it did come true." Solaris laughed again. "I was so convinced that there was nothing I could do to stop it that I didn't even try. I believed the future was absolute and that nothing could change it. In a way I ensured the prophecy would come true because I believed it would." Solaris looked down at Harry again. "You have no idea what its like to know about a dark future that you will cause and feel there is nothing you can do to stop it."

"I do," Harry said. He paused for a long moment debating whether he wanted to tell Solaris more. Solaris had shared his secret and Harry felt compelled to share his as well. "When we were using that stone thingy it took us was the future, at least that what I thought…" Harry continued to tell Solaris the events of what had happened. Once he started though it seemed hard to stop. With his friends he hadn't told them everything but with Solaris the whole story seemed to pour out. Harry wasn't sure why, it was just like Solaris understood every part of it.

"It's not the first time you've had a vision of the future," Solaris said, it wasn't a question. "You have also seen what might be well you were on Avalon."

"Yeah," Harry said, he didn't recall ever telling Solaris about that. "Everyone keeps telling me it's not the future I see."

"Do they?" Solaris said. Harry waited for Solaris to elaborate but he did not.

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked.

"Who is to say what the future is," Solaris said. "Everything we do shapes what is to come. But some would disagree. They would argue that the future is absolute, that it cannot be changed. You may have seen the future because it was the answer you were looking for."

---

Saturday was a prefect day for flying. The sky was cloudless and sun was shinning. Harry's team stood out on the field facing the Slytherins. The whole school looked like it was outside for this match.

"Captains shake hands," Harry stepped forward, so did Malfoy, it figured. Harry took Malfoy's hand, both of them squeezed each other fingers trying to crush them. Madam Hootch finally had to pull them apart. "Now see here, I want a clean game." She said fiercely to both captains. Harry nodded. Malfoy smiled wickedly.

With her foot Madam Hootch kicked open the Quidditch box and the bludgers leapt into the air zooming off. A moment later the snitch exploded out of the box and rushed high into the sky.

"Players mount your brooms!" Madam Hootch said. Her whistle moved up to her lips and with a sharp blast of sound players launched themselves into the air.

Harry was already high above the field searching for the Snitch. Oddly enough Malfoy was not up here with him. He was close to the ground taking up almost an opposite position from Harry.

"And Gryffindor scores!" shouted the voice of the announcer. Harry squinted down at the box. He had forgotten that last year had been Lee Jordan's seventh. There was a new announcer in the box. Harry wasn't sure who it was but at the moment he didn't have time to keep watching he had to find the snitch.

"Lead chaser for the Gryffindors is Ginny Weasley, she played seeker last year on the team but she can really move as a chaser! And Gryffindor scores again!" Harry looked down at his team below. The chasers were keeping tight to Ginny as they moved around the Slytherins. Harry had to admit he was impressed. They were outmaneuvering the Slytherins at every turn. The Slytherin chasers had yet to touch the Qualful. "And Gryffindor scores again fifty to zero!"

Harry pulled a large loop around the field the snitch had yet to show itself. Harry looked down at Malfoy who was still sitting in the same spot, low to the ground. It was an odd strategy. In all the things Harry had read about Quidditch the tactics Malfoy was using had to be the worst idea of a seeker. Looking up meant you were looking into the sun ,making a small gold object very hard to spot. It was also much faster to fly down then up and not moving at all, well that was just stupid.

"Ouch that had to hurt!" shouted the announcer. Harry looked down over his shoulder as one of the Slytherin chasers made a slow spiral on their broom towards the ground. "That's Melanie Boil, a fourth year Gryffindor, she just joined this year! She has one wicked arm on her. And Gryffindor has the Qualful again, the chasers are rushing for the goal…oh look out… Gryffindor scores!"

Harry watched with a smile. It was like his chaser team was unstoppable. They were flying circles around the Slytherins. Harry looked over at the scoreboard, 170 to zero. It was a slaughter like Harry had never seen before. Now if only he could find the snitch they would have this game set and be well in the lead for overall points.

"And a beater goes down this time, my word that girl can hit!" shouted the announcer as Crabbe, playing as a Slytherin beater toppled backwards towards the ground, clinging to his broom. "Slytherin is down two players now, its not looking good for them, they need to get their heads back in the game and score some points!"

But Gryffindor continued to score. Ginny's expert flying was astounding, Harry wasn't even sure how she was moving so fast. Some times her chasers even had trouble keeping up with her. Harry looked around again, still no snitch and Malfoy still sat in that same spot, waiting… waiting? A horrible thought had just occurred to Harry.

What if Malfoy knew where the snitch would be? What if he did have a time turner and he had used it to travel back so he could cheat?

"The Gryffindor chasers are starting another run and…" a stunned silence came from the announcer, people in the crowed were suddenly shouting. Harry turned to see what had happened. Ginny had fallen from her broom, she was racing towards the ground spinning through the air.

For an instant Harry's eyes saw past where she had been and into the crowd. Standing, wand pointed out at the spot Ginny had been was Malfoy. Without giving anymore time Harry turned his broom downwards and rushed after Ginny. It was no good he was too far behind her, he would never be able to catch her in time.

And then something wholly unexpected happened. Everything seemed to shake for a second and then fire spread out in a quick burst around Harry. Suddenly Ginny was in his arms. They were only feet from the ground and Harry's broom was still pointed down. With all his might Harry pulled up on the handle. The tail end of his broom cut along the ground. Harry put his feet down hard, breaking the speeding broom as he held Ginny in his arms.

Harry came to a stop and looked down at Ginny with concern. There was a large patch of red on top of her right breast. Blood was soaking out down her robes.

Harry looked up. Tears were running down his face. Ginny had been attacked, by Malfoy. He had tried to kill her. Harry was trying to call for someone to help him, to help Ginny but his voice didn't seem to be working.

Madam Pomfrey appeared at Harry's side taking Ginny from his arms and resting her on the ground. Harry put his hand over his mouth. The crowds were shouting so loudly that the voice of the announcer was drowned out.

Madam Pomfrey pointed her wand at the wound in Ginny's chest. Nothing seemed to happen.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked concerned seeing the look of concern and confusion on Madam Pomfrey's face.

"Nothing is," Madam Pomfrey said, she moved her wand quickly making two slashes in the air. The blood around the wound vanished revealing the top of Ginny breast and part of a nipple. But there was nothing else, no wound, not even a cut or a scar. It was impossible. Only a moment ago Harry had seen the great gash in her chest.

"I'm going to take her to the hospital wing." Madam Pomfrey said magicing Ginny into the air. Harry couldn't help but turn to look back at the field. He knew he should stay here and win game but he wanted to go and make sure Ginny was really alright. But to Harry's surprise Quidditch players on both sides were coming down to land on the ground. It was odd, the game usually didn't stop for injuries. Ron came over and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Come on mate," Ron said.

"What happened?" Harry asked confused, "why is everyone stopping?"

"Malfoy caught the snitch, almost right after…" Ron looked after his sister, pain in his eyes.

"Did you see what happened?" Harry asked urgently.

"I saw a flash of light," Ron said. "But I don't know where from."

"Come on," Harry said taking Ron under the arm and pulling him along as they followed after Ginny. "It was Malfoy," Harry whispered when they were far enough from the people celebrating on the field. "I saw him standing in the crowd with his wand out. And the whole game he waited in one spot, like he knew the snitch was going to be there for him. I think he has a time turner and that's how he's been doing this all year long."

"Yeah," Ron said not following entirely. "I guess, but why would he want to attack Ginny?"

"I don't know," Harry said. In actuality there were hundreds of reasons that he could think of, of why Malfoy would want to attack Ginny. At the top of the list was because Harry cared for her very much.

---

Harry sat in the hospital wing talking with Ginny. She had fainted during the fall from her broom but otherwise was entirely unharmed.

"That was some fast flying," Ginny smiled at Harry as he held her hand. "I guess you really are a better seeker."

"Well it was you that won that game," Harry said. "Malfoy caught the snitch, but we were 230 points ahead when he did." Ginny smiled.

"I guess you were right, I do make a good chaser," Ginny smiled. Harry nodded. "I hope Madam Pomfrey lets me out soon, I feel fine." Harry looked over at Madam Pomfrey who was treating Crabbe for a broken nose from the bludger that had hit him.

"I wouldn't count on that," Harry whispered. "But you can always sneak out." Ginny giggled which drew Madam Pomfrey over to them.

"Alright Mr. Potter, that's quite enough, you can visit later but right now she needs some rest," Madam Pomfrey said shooing Harry away.

The hospital wing door closed behind Harry.

"So, Potter," a drawling voice said from the wall next to Harry. Harry turned his head to see Malfoy leaning against the wall, the snitch in his hand and a grin on his face. "Looks like I beat you." Malfoy held out the snitch. "I'm going to keep it as a trophy, maybe put it up in my room." With a burst of anger Harry lunged forward grabbing Malfoy's robes.

"I know it was you," Harry snarled. "I know you have a time turner, I know you cheated to get that. You almost cost Ginny her life." Malfoy looked startled but regained his nasty look quickly, his hands moved up and stuck Harry's away. Malfoy took a few steps back.

"You're insane Potter," Malfoy snarled. "Someone should put you out of your misery." Almost at the same moment Harry and Malfoy both drew their wands. The snitch fluttered into the air buzzing about as Harry and Malfoy stared each other down.

"_Atracuratus!_" Malfoy shouted. Harry's school wand bust into flames. Harry tossed it away without a second thought. His hand rushed down into his robe and pulled the metal baton from his pocket. With a quick flick of his wrist the baton sprang outwards extending into the blunt metal rod. A low hum vibrated the air and without a moment's hesitation Harry swung at Malfoy's hand striking the wand. The piece of wood spun out into the air. Malfoy cradled his injured hand. Rage overtook Harry's mind and with another brutal swing he struck Malfoy again, across the face.

Malfoy screamed cradling the side of his face. Blood was running between his fingers. Harry flicked the baton closed and put it back inside his robe. With a quick movement he hand shot out and caught the snitch as it tried to zoom by.

"At least you're close to the hospital wing," Harry said with a snarl and he turned away leaving Malfoy cursing at him from the floor.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Ah my fingers its like I've type 24,000 words in only a matter of days, oh wait I have, ah my fingers!

Okay for anyone who is lost here is a quick summer of the last 24 chapters.

Bad shit has gone down.

What, not descriptive enough? Well then luck you, there happen to be 24 chapters explaining all of that in more detail!

Important points in this chapter include, the disclaimer, because I don't want to be sued for copywirte infringement, the title, because every chapter needs a title and of course the authors notes, which often seem to note nothing about the author or the story!

Oh yeah and well I guess some of the events in this chapter are important too. It's one step closer to the ending, which I acted out in my apartment last night, yeah I'm a nerd I know, but man is it fun to play all the characters and talk to yourself!

For the most part I do try an act out everything I write before I write it or at least talk out some of the parts of the characters to get a feel for what works and what doesn't. The biggest problem is that I never do it the same way twice so I usually end up with a whole bunch of different versions of events.

Silmarwen1119 gets the faithful reviewer award for writing 14 reviews spanning across most of the chapters! Thank you for reading and reviewing! Your insight and comments have been very helpful to me!

That doesn't mean that anyone else has done less (except for you readers that haven't written a review, come one write a review!) every review, opinion and idea is important to me. So please keep them coming. Even if you already reviewed once feel free to leave another review. You can leave 1 per chapter so that gives everyone like 24 slots to review in!

Left Note (because I couldn't get my notes to go sideways)

Because book six is coming very soon, and because even at a faster pace I don't think I can finish before its release I have been considering updating the story to reflect year 7 instead of six. At the moment it's only a thought. Many of the events throughout the story would be much better off as a year 7 experience in my opinion. The time frame that this story takes place (and I know this sounds silly) is not really that important. Six, Seven, its all the same really there just might be some extra events I have to include.

I am wondering what you the readers think about such a thing. I know, since you're in chapter 24, that the prospect of rereading the whole book over again because of a few changes across many chapters, most likely does not sound appealing. And for me it would be a massive undertaking. But I'm really not a fan of AU fiction (that's a couple page rant in itself).

In any case it might be a moot point since the events in book six, and the events in my version of year six may not be compatible. For all I know she might kill off Ginny in her story which would really kind of screw me.

What do you all think?

(Alex says no I shouldn't, by the way, mostly because he doesn't want to reread it)


	25. – All Hallows Eve

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil 

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 25 – All Hallows Eve 

Harry rolled over in bed. It felt like a Monday. Snoring was heavy in the room. Ron's nose was practically vibrating the walls. Groggily Harry dragged himself down to the washroom for a shower.

When Harry returned to his room he felt much more awake. The shower had felt good and clean clothing seemed to invigorate him for another hard day of school. He no longer even had the school wand to practice with and even though he had been able to cast some magic without a wand he had only used simple spells. Since he was in his sixth year most of Harry's classes would be anything but simple spells.

Harry noticed a letter addressed to him on the nightstand. It had not been there when he left. Quickly Harry picked it up. It was from Mr. Olivander but the letter was far too light to contain a new wand. Pulling the envelope apart Harry retrieved a very short message scrawled in untidy handwriting.

Your new wand will be ready by the 31st of October.

Well at least that was something, if not very much. Harry had been expecting more like, 'what an incredible phoenix feather' or 'my word a vial of Nightmare flame!' but he was also relieved that those questions hadn't been asked as Harry wasn't sure how he would explain where he had got them.

But October 30th, that was more then three weeks away and Harry wasn't sure how he was going to survive three more weeks without a wand. He was already almost a month behind on his homework. Harry crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the waste paper basket.

"Tis it bad new, Mr. Harry Potter?" said a small voice from on top of Harry's bed. Harry turned startled and found Dobby standing on his bed.

"Dobby!" Harry cried in surprise, "Don't sneak up like that."

"Sorry sir," Dobby said his ears drooping.

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Harry said waving it off. "What are you doing here?"

"Dobby came to give Harry Potter his letter, sir," Dobby said his ears raising a little. "It just arrived for you and Dobby sees you going to check the owlery most every days, sir. So Dobby figured you were waiting for something."

"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said smiling, "but you didn't have to."

"Oh I wanted to sir, it's Dobby's pleasure to serve Hogwarts, and Mr. Harry Potter!" Dobby said with a bow and glow in his large round eyes.

"Uh, thanks?" Harry said not sure how to reply to this. "Look I'll see you later Dobby." Harry said. His stomach was rumbling and he wanted to get down to breakfast before the first years ate everything. Waving goodbye to Dobby, Harry headed to the common room.

Harry froze as he arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Gathered around the Gryffindor message board was a large group of girls, and they were all talking in whispers and giggling. Warning bells began to go off in Harry's head. He knew nothing good could come of this.

Some of the girls turned and looked at him with knowing smiles and whispered to each other. There could be only one thing that would cause such a commotion, an event involving some kind of dancing. Harry moved over to a group of first year boys who were struggling to finish their homework before class.

"No, no!" one of the boys with sandy blond hair shouted. "Levi-a-sa."

"Hey," Harry interrupted looking down at the first years. They all looked up at him startled. Harry was having a hard time believing he had ever been that small or ever looked so frightened to be talked to by an older student.

"Sorry," the boy said panicked. "I didn't mean to shout…"

"No, it's alright," Harry said waving a hand and shaking his head. "Do any of you know what's going on?" Harry said jerking his thumb at the message board.

"Some kind of dance I think," said a first year girl with very straight brown hair. "I'm not sure what all the fuss is about."

"You're just angry because it's fourth year and up!" a boy with ear length black hair said. "Besides who would want to go with a mudblood like you?" The girl whipped out her wand and pointed it between the boy's eyes.

"Hey!" Harry shouted. "Watch what you say. What the hell wrong with you, you're all Gryffindors, act like it."

"Todd wanted to be a Slytherin," the girl hissed. The boy grabbed his homework and stormed off up the boy's stairs not looking back. Harry shook his head, he couldn't remember ever acting like that either.

"Look I know it's stressful, the first year was a bit hard on me to," Harry said to the group of first years still remaining. A bit hard might have been an understatement. "But you're all in the same house, you all need to stick together."

"Against what?" the blond boy said sarcastically. "There aren't any other first year students in any of the other houses. A lot of people are unhappy, Todd's not the only one like that. It would have been better if the sorting hat had done its job proper."

"Maybe it did," said Harry. "Thanks and good luck finishing your homework, and it's Levi-o-sa by the way."

---

Harry hadn't taken more then a few steps outside the portrait hole before something hit him. The whole reason he had talked to the group of first years. The dance. Why did there have to be a dance on Halloween? Was it just some form of torture devised by the teachers? Harry let out a sigh. Maybe he should ask Ginny to go. But would she even want to? Harry was fairly sure she did as she had gone with Neville to the last dance just so she could go to it. She was after all a girl and girls liked dances, didn't they?

'I dono, should I ask her?' Harry thought to himself.

'Yes,' a tiny voice I the back of his head answered.

"Thanks," Harry said aloud shaking his head. The voice that had answered had been Hermione's. He still hadn't gotten used to that. Harry was almost sure he heard a, 'your welcome.'

Harry reentered the Gryffindor common room. Should he wait here for Ginny and ask her when she came down? No, that didn't seem like a good idea. Too many girls were eyeing him and Harry thought that one might ask him at any moment. Also what if she had already gone down to breakfast?

The only thing Harry could think of was the secret passage into the girls' dormitory, but this time he would go prepared. Hurrying back up to his room he pulled the Marauders map from his truck and activated it with a poke from his finger. Ginny was still in her room, but so were two of her three roommates. Becky Blair and Erin Malove. Harry pulled his invisibility cloak from his chest. It would be worth the risk.

Without a second thought Harry rushed to the bathroom, magicd open the last stall, turned the knobs and rushed down the narrow stone passage, checking the map only once to ensure he was on the right path.

At last Harry emerged in the girls' washroom on the fifth floor of the Gryffindor tower. Harry checked the map again. He felt a lump in his throat, what had he done? How could he have been so stupid! Every stall, except the one he was in was full. The sound of running water and talking and laughing filled the air. Harry had walked into a minefield with only a thin cloak of invisibility standing between him and who knew what type of horrible punishment.

Harry's eyes moved up the map, there was no one outside in the hallway at the moment. Keeping the map up in front of him and ensuring that the cloak covered his whole body. Harry made his way out of the last stall and as quickly as he could he moved down the row of shower doors, his heart pounding in his chest, knowing that at any moment half naked girls might emerge. At last Harry made it to the end of the row. Chatter and giggles still filled the air.

Harry looked at the map again to make sure the way was clear. Someone was right outside. The door opened and Harry quickly pressed up against the wall to avoid being collided with. The door separated him for the person on the other side, she had not seen him. Harry remembered a moment latter that even if she had he was wearing the invisibility cloak

The girl walked past not glancing back. She had only a towel wrapped around her. Before the door could swing shut Harry rushed out into the hall. He was the only person in the hallway but he was still glad to have his invisibility cloak on all the same.

Harry made his way down to Ginny's room. From the look of the map the girls were still in their beds. Carefully Harry tested the doorknob remembering his last experience. The door, however, was not locked. Harry opened it and slid inside. One of the two other girls in the room had her bed curtains pulled closed around her bed. The other's head was the only thing visible from the lump under he sheets.

Harry moved to Ginny's bedside, she was so cute when she was asleep. Gently Harry lifted the bed sheets and slid under the covers with her and pulled the invisibility cloak over the top of them.

Harry put his hand gently around Ginny's waist. She was wearing only a long night shirt. Harry put his face against the back of her head smelling her sweet hair.

Ginny stirred moving a little. Harry felt her fingers slide into his.

"Good morning," Ginny said sleepily.

"Good morning," Harry whispered quietly into her ear. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Mmm," Ginny said, "you can wake me up any time."

"I'll hold you to that, Gin," Harry said softly with a smile. Ginny's head jerked back to look at Harry, her eyes wide in surprise. She sat bolt upright clinging the sheets to her chest.

"Harry!" Ginny said, "What… what are you doing here!"

"What, I… uh… wait a minute…" Harry said pushing himself up. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"No," Ginny said her chest was bouncing up and down under her night shirt as she tried to calm herself from panic. She lowered her voice. "I wasn't expecting _anyone_! You're in the girls' dormitory again, in my room, in my bed." She angrily narrowed her eyes. Harry felt a sudden wave of panic. Was she going to start yelling at him? "And I like it when you break the rules for me." Ginny pulled him into a passionate kiss. It was a long time before they broke apart, both Harry and Ginny were out of breath.

"Wow…" Harry said between breaths. Ginny smiled.

"So," Ginny said slyly. "Did you risk life and limb for some snooggle time?"

"Ah, no," Harry said. Ginny seemed a little disappointed. "Actually, there's a dance." Ginny looked at him like as if to say, 'okay and…?' "And I was wondering if you want to go… you know with me…" Ginny smiled.

"Oh, I don't know Harry," she said in mock earnest. "There are so many other boys that might want to ask me. But none of them are as handsome," Ginny kissed him on his chin, "or as brave as you." Ginny's smile grew broader. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"Well… uh… I," Harry stammered his brain seemed to have frozen. 'YES,' something in the back of his mind shouted. "Yes," Harry said quickly trying to smile.

"You're cute when you're shy," Ginny said kissing him on the side of his face. "Okay, Mr. Potter, I accept your invitation," she kissed him again on the other side of his face. "but I think because you came all this way to ask there should be a reward." Ginny walked her fingers up Harry's chest.

All Harry could manage was an 'uh.' Ginny licked her lips, grinning and crossed her arms taking the hem of her shirt and pulling it slowly upwards. Harry's mind had frozen. It felt like his eyes were bugging out of his head. Ginny held it right below her breast teasing him.

"Do you like your reward so far?" Ginny asked. Harry didn't know what to say. He wasn't even entirely sure what was going on.

"What about your roommates!" Harry said looking around. It was the only thing his brain could think of.

"Well you'll just have to find a way to keep me quiet won't you?" Ginny said pulling her shirt the rest of the way off and dragging the invisibility cloak away with it. Harry felt an ache in his groin that he couldn't will away. His eyes moved uncontrollably to stare at her soft round breast. He couldn't look away.

"Hehe," Ginny said taking hold of the invisibility cloak. "You didn't try and sneak in under this did you!" Ginny said holding the cloak in her hand. Panic gripped Harry. Ginny was sitting naked, in front of him, in bed with him and the only thing that had been hiding them she had just pulled away.

Ginny wrapped the cloak around her. But something strange happened. The cloak did not make her invisible. It was just a silver brown cloak.

"What!" Harry said in surprise.

"Invisibility doesn't work in the girls' dormitories," Ginny said shaking her head and continuing to smile. "Hermione is right, you really should read _Hogwarts, a History_." Ginny pulled the cloak off and tossed it down her bed. A grin spread around her face and she put her arms around Harry's neck pulling his forehead against hers and pressing her breast into his chest.

"Gin," Harry said. His mind was blanking. Everything he had been taught told him that this was wrong that, it was a bad thing. "I don't know, I'm not sure I'm ready for, you know, sex." Harry said nervously. Ginny gave him a brief kiss on the mouth and pulled one of his hands up to her breast. Harry's brain reacted without his consent and he toppled out of bed.

"Gin," Harry said looking up at her from the floor. "I'm…I'm sorry I just can't do this yet." Ginny looked longingly down at him, there was sadness in her eyes. She pulled the blankets over her body.

"So you don't love me?" She asked haltingly.

"No!" Harry cried, why had this turned so badly? "I do love you, with all my heart, Gin. But I'm just not… I just don't want it to be this way. Not yet. Please." A yawn came from behind Harry. He turned his head and froze.

For an instant the girl in the bed across the room looked sleepily at Harry as though not seeing him and then her eyes opened full and she started shouting. Harry felt like a deer caught in headlights. He couldn't move.

"GET OUT, GET OUT! BOY IN THE DORMITORY!" the girl shouted. A pillow hit him in the back of his head. Moments later the doors outside the room began to echo with shouting. Harry pushed himself up and moved towards the door.

Ginny's other roommate sat up in her bed, wide eyed. The first one was still shouting for him to get out. Another pillow flew through the air and hit the wall next to him. Harry heard a knock on the door as he gripped the handle.

"Open this door right now!" It was Professor McGonagall's voice. There wasn't any way out. The girls in the room had seen him. If he became a phoenix now he would be in a lot more trouble for being an unregistered animagus. Quickly Harry pulled the map from his pocket and tossed it at Ginny. With a flick of his eyes he looked down at the invisibility cloak lying on her bed. She instantly understood. Wrapping them together she swung them under her bed.

Harry took a deep breath then turned and opened the door. A group of girls had gathered behind Professor McGonagall.

"Potter!" McGonagall said in a disgusted voice. "I should have known." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him out down the hall. Whispers and giggles followed after him. It was humiliating.

---

"Normally, student relationships are none of my business," McGonagall said pacing back and forth behind her desk. "But what you have done is a most serious offence, Potter."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I didn't know there were any rules against being in the girls' dormitories."

"Maybe if you had listened to the advice from Miss Granger and taken the time to read _Hogwarts, a History_ you would know better." Harry was really getting sick of everyone telling him that. "Fifty points from Gryffindor," McGonagall said shaking her head. "Next time, Potter it will be 150 and suspension from school."

"What!" Harry cried that was unfair! "Professor, it can't be that serious! I mean I was just visiting my friend." McGonagall stopped pacing and put her hands down hard on her desk, leaning over it looking at Harry with narrowed eyes.

"Mr. Potter, you can do it in the common room. But sleeping in bed with another student is not a laughing matter. This is a school!"

"What, no! Me and Ginny we didn't…" Harry had been about to say, 'have sex' but the look on McGonagall's face seemed to tell him that it would be a bad move even to mention it. "Professor I swear, I'm sorry it will never happen again."

"It better not Potter," McGonagall said straightening up.

---

Harry trotted down to breakfast. He wondered if losing fifty points for Gryffindor had been worth sneaking into Ginny's room. The answer was yes. Harry bit his lip as he remembered Ginny naked in front of him. What had he been thinking? Why had he pushed her away? Why couldn't he just be a man like every other boy his age and have gone for it! She obviously wanted him to.

The answer was simple really. He was afraid he was doing something wrong. The whole thing just didn't feel right. There was also a fear that going all the way would ruin his relationship with Ginny, not make it better. The funny thing was he couldn't explain why he thought that.

---

The following week was horrible. With no wand classes were very difficult and homework was impossible. Finally Hermione suggested that Harry use her wand to try and do his homework, since she always finished before anyone else, even Ginny. Harry found that Hermione's wand seemed to be just the right size as it were. It didn't feel exactly the same as his old wand but it did work much better then the school wand.

Hufflepuff lost in a very close game against Ravenclaw. Cho had become a chaser, much to Harry disgust. She was okay, but nowhere as good a flyer as Ginny. The Hufflepuff keeper was exceptional stopping all but a two shots against her. The final game ended with Hufflepuff 80 and Ravenclaw 170. And so the score currently stood with Ravenclaw in first, Gryffindor a close second, Slytherin in third and Hufflepuff last.

Hufflepuff would be the next team they would have to play against. Their excellent keeper meant that Harry would have to find the snitch quickly and try and keep his team in the lead because he had a feeling that that Slytherin was going to slaughtered by Ravenclaw.

Quidditch practice went very well and assuming that no one attacked any of his players during the game Harry was fairly sure that they would be able to win against Hufflepuff in their next match.

All they really had to worry about now was Ravenclaw. Their chasers were very good but Ginny was better. Even still Harry knew when they played it would be a close match.

The DA meeting was about the only thing other than Quidditch practice that went right. Lilith's training had taken a step up and members were sparring now against each other. Many members were becoming very good, including Harry and to his surprise, Ginny was doing exceptionally well. In fact Harry was sure that she was much better at fighting with a baton than he was. The down side to that was that she was his sparring partner for the night.

They were using weighted fighting sticks that had a padding wrapped round the outside. They felt like the metal batons but inflicted far less damage. During the first round Harry had tried to go easy on Ginny—she was a girl after all and his girlfriend—only to have his ass handed to him as she quickly knocked him to the ground.

"Come on Harry!" Ginny said offering him a hand and pulling him up. "I know you're better than that, you don't have to let me win."

"Just trying to be a gentleman," Harry smiled jokingly as Ginny helped pull him to his feet.

Harry stood holding his training baton with both hands. His stance gave him the ability to block almost any attack at his upper body and gave him much more power when striking. But his attacks would be very slow in this stance. It was a defensive stance. Ginny was using one-handed stance. Her positioning let her attack faster but with much less power. It also left most of her body open to attack.

Ginny made the first move. Harry was quick to strike it away. There was a hole for a moment but Ginny swung her foot around covering it, no good Harry would have to wait for another chance. Ginny attacked again and Harry deflected stepping back and readying to defend from the next attack, which came a second later. Ginny stepped away not letting her guard down but moving out of striking distance.

"You won't win by just blocking my attacks," Ginny said. "You have to fight back."

"I know," said Harry calmly. Ginny frowned. With two quick steps her baton was in the air and rushing at Harry. He moved to block. He felt the impact but a moment later there was a hard jab in his ribs that knocked him to his butt. Ginny offered a hand up shaking her head.

"You've really been practicing at this haven't you?" Harry asked.

"Using two hands you're too slow," Ginny said. "You should try one hand like me."

"But you can't defend yourself as well," Harry said. "You leave too much of yourself open to your opponent." Ginny laughed.

"Well your not doing such a good job defending yourself now, are you? Besides, we're going to be fighting wizards, with wands," Ginny said shaking her head. "They won't be fighting back like this and your baton won't defend you against spells. It's best to practice attack, not defenses." Harry had to admit she had a point. He changed his grip to one hand. It didn't feel as comfortable or as safe.

The two of them began again. It was much easier to match Ginny's movements now, and he even got her a couple times. But she was still much better and Harry had a feeling that she was trying to go easy on him.

At the end of the night Harry felt very bruised but exhilarated. He'd had fun tonight, something that he hadn't had in the DA for a long time. Ginny was a very good fighter and Harry was glad she was on his side.

Suddenly it was like he had run into a wall. Harry's head began to spin, his scar ached with pain. Happy. Voldemort was extremely happy. Harry didn't know what had happened but he knew that it was something horrible.

---

"I don't believe it!" Hermione cried her eyes wide as she read the Daily Prophet the next morning at breakfast. Harry looked up from his eggs.

"What," Ron asked, "are they having a sale on dress robes?" Ron had been making comments like that all week to Hermione. Ron had told Harry that he'd asked her to the dance, she'd accepted but told him they were just going as friends and Ron had been snippety every since.

"No," Hermione said completely ignoring Ron's comment. There was panic in her eyes. "It's Fudge, he's been murdered!" Harry felt his fork drop from his hand. Ginny covered her mouth. Harry hadn't liked Fudge. He had been an arrogant, pompous, fool, but even still he hadn't deserved to be killed. "And the ministry is saying the Order of the Phoenix has already claimed responsibility for it! The ministry has branded any Order member a traitor and authorized the use of the killing curse on sight."

"That's impossible," said Harry. "Dumbledore would never…" Harry trailed off. Two years ago Harry's resolve would have been absolute but now he found himself doubting.

"No," Hermione said forcefully. "He wouldn't. The Order didn't like Fudge but they would never kill him. It's obviously a lie."

"It has to be Voldemort," Harry said firmly. "Last night, after the DA meeting he was happy, very happy." Reflexively Harry rubbed his scar.

"But I don't understand why he would want to kill Fudge," Hermione said continuing to read the article with extreme attentiveness.

"Why not?" Ron asked confused. "Wasn't Fudge a threat against, Vold…" Ron's voice broke. Harry looked at Ron, that had been the first time ever he had almost said Voldemort's name. "you… you-know-who?" Ron stuttered out.

"Not really," Hermione said surprised at Ron. "Fudge was the best thing that could have happened for Voldemort actually, a Minister that didn't really understand the seriousness of the situation. Since Voldemort's reappearance last year Fudge hasn't taken one step in tracking him down and fighting him. He's just been on the defensive. Most of the papers are trying to make it sound like the ministry is winning, but I think they're lying. The Quibbler seems to be the only unaffected paper. Unfortunately they aren't very concerned with events beyond the fantastic.

"And look at this," Hermione said pointing down the article, "They've already elected a new Minister of Magic, but it can't be, this can't be right." Hermione looked up there was panic in her eyes.

"What?" Ginny and Harry cried together.

"Lucius Malfoy is to take office tomorrow as the new Minister of Magic…" Hermione read looking slowly up at Harry over the top of the paper.

---

In the weeks leading up Halloween dance Harry became very distant. He had been concentrating so hard on the problems at school that it never occurred to him the things that were going on in the real world. The shock of Lucius Malfoy taking office as Minister of Magic was almost unreal to Harry.

Oddly Malfoy hadn't been gloating about it. He had been keeping his distance from Harry and was hiding his face as though he was afraid to look at him. It wasn't until after one of the classes with Slytherin that Malfoy turned reflexively to listen to someone, that Harry saw it.

A long, ugly, scar ran down the side of Malfoy's face. It had been the place where Harry had struck him with the baton. Malfoy had seen him looking and quickly turned away, stalking off.

Harry's heart was beating very fast in his chest. It wasn't possible. All this time he had been telling himself none of the things he had seen about the future were real. But this seemed to throw it all into question again. It was the same scar he had seen on the older Malfoy's face. The scar Malfoy had said Harry had inflicted upon him and that he had not had a chance to pay Harry back.

---

The only bright spots were Quidditch practice, DA meetings and Ginny's surprise dance lessons. It had been Ginny's idea to try and teach Harry how to dance before the ball. At first Harry had been reluctant but Ginny told him that knowing how to dance would help him become a better fighter because the two skills were very closely related.

Harry was still not convinced but accepted all the same. She was trying to do something nice for him and Harry was willing to at least give it a try. Though Ginny was very good at dodging Harry's attacks with a baton, his feet almost always seemed to get hers. And after only a few practices Harry was ready to give up, he just wasn't made to be a dancer.

"The problem is," Ginny said as she sat on Harry's bed rubbing her bare foot that Harry had just managed to crush. "that you're thinking of it like dancing."

"What else should I think of it as!" Harry protested irritably.

"It's combat, it's a sport, two things you're very good at!" Ginny said shaking her head. "You're trying too hard. You need to relax and let it happen, naturally, like flying." This was nothing like flying. Harry wasn't sure how she could even compare the two. Ginny stood and took his hands.

"Focus on me, don't think about where your feet are going, you've already practiced the steps," Ginny said.

"Alone," Harry said. "but it's a lot harder to dance with someone else."

"It's always harder to play any sport with someone else," Ginny said, "because you have someone to judge yourself against. But it's always more rewarding." She said putting Harry's arm around her waist. "You're feet know the steps, just let them do it."

---

The Halloween ball was almost here now, barely a week away. And Harry had only gotten a little better at dancing. At least he wasn't crushing Ginny's feet anymore.

---

At last Halloween came, the 31st of October. Today Harry would get his new wand and tonight he would go dancing with Ginny. Butterflies were moving around his stomach most of the day. The two of them had been dancing for two weeks now and though Harry wasn't going to win any prizes he could at least keep up her for he most part. It was just the prospect of dancing in front of a crowd of people made Harry feel nervous. What if he did something stupid and the whole school started laughing at him.

However his thoughts about the dance took a backseat as he waiting in the common room. He had been here most of the day, catching up on homework, but mostly waiting for his new wand to arrive. Mr. Olivander had promised it would arrive today. But it was already past noon time and there had been no post or anything else to signal the arrival of his new wand.

Neville of all people was the person that reminded Harry that the dance would be starting in just under twenty minutes and Harry hadn't gotten ready at all. He hurried upstairs and pulled his dress robes on. It was time. His wand had not arrived but there were still many hours left in the day and it might be waiting for him when he got back.

Harry waited down in the common room with a fairly large group of other Gryffindor boys. Harry was really surprised how grownup everyone looked in their dress robes. Even Ron look dashing in his new robes his brothers had bought for him.

"Do you think they are making us wait on purpose?" Dean asked breaking the nervous silence. There was some uneasy laughter.

"No," Harry said, "I _know_ they're making us wait." There was more laughter this time and Harry was starting to feel less tense about the dance. Quiet suddenly filled the room as a parade of girls emerged at the bottom of the stairs. Harry knew he was staring but he couldn't help himself. He had never realized before just how beautiful most of the Gryffindor girls were.

Ginny made her way out of the parade and moved to Harry. She was in a very pretty dress. It was green, like Harry's eyes and was cut very low across the front. It held tight in all the right places and light seemed to fall into it directing Harry's eyes where to look. Ginny spun around to show herself off to Harry, who couldn't seem to close him mouth.

"I see I have your attention," Ginny said with a smile. Harry gave a nervous laugh and licked his dry lips.

"You always have my attention, Gin," Harry said as he stepped up and wrapped his hands round her waste. Ginny smiled as Harry held her.

"Not that I don't enjoy this," Ginny said with a sly smile, "but we do have a dance to get to." Harry let her go and she took his arm. The two of them headed downstairs to the great hall for the dance.

This was nothing like the dance he'd had to endure in his fourth year. Once they were inside and dancing, very slowly and very close together, Harry couldn't stop. He didn't want to stop. He just wanted to be there with Ginny, holding her all night long.

Harry didn't know what was different this time. It was still a dance, there was still music and things like that but Harry was having fun. Maybe, Harry thought, it's not about the dance at all. Harry's attention was drawn away and he spotted Ron and Hermione dancing together. She was shaking her head at him and Harry had the odd feeling that she was 'tutting' him.

She was wearing a very pretty dark red dress that was far less revealing than Ginny's. She winced and looked back at Ron to say something. He must have trod on her foot.

It was Ginny who finally said that she needed to sit down. She looked flushed. Harry went to get them drinks. Ron was sitting alone by the punch bowl he looked sullen and Hermione was nowhere insight.

"Ron," Harry asked concerned as he held the drinks in his hands, "Where's Hermione?"

"Oh, she had to go to the bathroom," Ron said. "Harry, I keep stepping on her feet, I'm so nervous, I feel horrible." Harry sat down next to him balancing the cups on he knees.

"A little advice," Harry said. "Don't think about dancing, just think about her and you'll get it right." Ron looked at him skeptically.

"Since when did you learn how to dance anyhow," Ron asked.

"Me? Oh it wasn't hard," Harry said jokingly. "It just like fighting really, you have to fight against your fear of making an ass of yourself instead of the person you're dancing with." Harry looked down the table to see Ginny looking at him wondering what the hold up was. "Sorry, mate gotta go. Just remember, avoid her feet."

It was very late when at last the dance concluded. A fair amount of people had stayed till the end, but it was not a large crowd. Except for a few breaks to rest, Ginny and Harry had danced the whole night. Harry had been able to spot Ron and Hermione again as the dance floor thinned out. Ther were not dancing as closely together as him and Ginny were, but at least Hermione didn't seem to be wincing anymore. Ginny had Harry by the arm as they headed for the doors to the great hall.

"Mr. Potter?" said a raspy voice from outside the doorway. Harry stopped, Ginny still holding onto his arm. A man stood in the shadows next to the archway. He had on a black hooded robe and Harry could not see his face.

"Yeah, that's me," Harry said looking at the man and readjusting Ginny's arm nervously. Harry wasn't sure who this person was, or what he wanted or even how he had gotten into the school, but Harry suddenly felt very aware that tonight he had not brought his baton with him and he had not gotten his new wand yet.

The man reached into his robe and Harry felt his heart jump. Slowly the man withdrew a long, black, polished, wooden box and held it out to Harry. Cautiously Harry took it not really sure what to expect. It couldn't be, this wasn't… his new wand, was it? Harry looked up at the man who waited expectantly, he seemed nervous. Harry pulled away the top of the black polished box. Sitting inside on a cushion of white cotton was a long black polished wand that almost seemed to glow in the torch light of the hallway.

With a shaking hand Harry moved to take it out. The wand vibrated as his hand got close to it, as though it couldn't wait for him to pick it up. Harry's hand hovered over the wand for a long moment and then Harry reached in and pulled it from the box. It was like the wand was vibrating in his hand. A swirl of flame spiraled up around the wand and erupted in a burst of magic at the tip. Harry looked at the long black wooden wand. It felt cool in his hand. It was just the right size and shape. It was almost like an extension of his arm. Except for Ginny he had never seen something so beautiful before in his life.

"It's incredible," Harry said looking back up at the hooded man. For a moment Harry had almost expected him to of vanish into the shadows but the man was still there. "Mr. Olivander?" Harry asked guessing. The man leaned closer and Harry could see some of his face, it was Olivander.

"Mr. Potter I have made wands all my life, I have seen wands crafted by greatest wand masters of all time but there has never been a wand made like the one you hold now." Intoned Mr. Olivander. "The tail feather of an unknown Phoenix makes it core combine with the flames of a Nightmare, eleven and a half inches long and made of raven wood."

"What's raven wood?" Harry asked he had never heard of that before.

"Raven wood comes from a very rare magical tree, it's very hard to obtain, I have never used it to make a wand before, but I felt that your wand needed it to be perfect," Mr. Olivander said. Harry looked at his new wand again. It was impressive beyond words. Even now Harry could feel the power within the wand.

"How much do I owe you for this?" Harry asked.

"Nothing," Mr. Olivander said quickly. Harry was surprised to say the least.

"Nothing?" Harry asked. "Surely there is some amount I can pay."

"Consider it a gift," Mr. Olivander said and Harry was sure this time the man sounded a little distraught.

"I can't just take it," Harry said feeling guilty. Mr. Olivander had obviously put a lot of hard work and time into this wand.

"I insist," Mr. Olivander said backing away. "Good evening to you, Mr. Potter." Harry turned the wand slowly in his hand admiring it. It was like light just vanished into it.

"Harry," Ginny said shaking his arm to remind him she was there.

"Sorry," Harry said pulling his eyes away from his wand to look at Ginny. Harry smiled at her.

"That was a little creepy," Ginny said looking after the man as he vanished down the hallway.

"Yeah," Harry said looking back at his wand. "I wonder why he wanted to be so mysterious. It really is an incredible wand though."

* * *

Authors Notes: 

And we come round to my favorite part, the part where I don't have to remember any of the facts, character names, plots, story lines, romantic interest, events that have and haven't happened yet, or anything else about the story. I can just write out my thoughts and say whatever the hell I want. "Underpants"

For those of you who haven't read _Hogwarts, a History_… which would be everyone unless you wrote a book called _Hogwarts, a History_ and then read it… note to self next book write: _Hogwarts, a History_… The way that the girls' dormitories work, at least in this story, is that boys can only enter up the stairs if they are escorted by a girl. In the specific case in question ('when Harry was taking Ginny up to her dorm after her animagus thing') he was holding Ginny in his arms, thus being escorted by a girl. As seen in pervious chapters, like chapter 14, boys can enter into the girls' dormitories, just not by themselves. I'm sorry if that was confusing for anyone. Invisibility also doesn't work, nor do magical spying devices or muggle video recorders, just to get those out of the way too.

I have to agree that moving the story into the 7th year would present a whole array of problems that I don't want to futz with. Eh it was just an idea. Readers can rest assured that no major update of this sort will take place.

As Alex and my editor both agree it is about damn time Harry got a new wand, yeah I know he went for a long time without it but believe me it was a necessary step.

Uh, hmmm lets see… next chapter I am planning to have stuff… possibly things happen… and a game of strip poker… and…. Yeah well let's just say its still in works at the moment

The end is coming soon, most because I want to write it soooooo much that I feel my head might just explode POP

Ahhhh my headdddddddd...

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers out there, at time of posting this story has gotten 4185 hits from faithful readers like you.

I am glad the people are enjoying my story! I have really enjoyed writing it so far its been a great experience, though my hands might disagree with me. Ack they heard me and are revolting, help, help they've got my nose hostage!

(some time later after a police intervention)

Please keep the reviews coming. Your ideas, opinions and plot hole discoveries are important to me!


	26. – One Minute Before Midnight

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

* * *

By: Starwin

Chapter 26 – One Minute Before Midnight

* * *

The dance had ended at ten o'clock, but because of the special occasion, the usual curfew had been pushed back to midnight. The dance had ended at ten o'clock. Many students had gone back to the dormitories though and the hallways were empty as Ginny and Harry walked slowly up the stairs. Ginny was holding onto his arm and her head was resting on his shoulder. They were still a good distance from Gryffindor tower and neither of them was in a hurry to get back.

Harry couldn't take his hand off the new wand in his pocket. It felt so smooth. The tips of his fingers didn't stick as he slid his hand along. It was soothing to have a wand again. The uneasy feeling that had been in his mind for more then a month was finally gone.

Harry turned his attention to the girl embracing his arm. Harry took a deep breath. He had wanted to do something all night long but there had been too many people around. Harry stopped walking and pulled Ginny to a halt along side him. He turned to face her. She was obviously thinking the same thing because without waiting she put her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

It was very dark and the hallways were empty except for them. Harry's heart was pounding very fast. The thrill of having the whole school to themselves, well this hallway at least, made Harry feel a rush of excitement. They broke away for air. Harry had his hand around Ginny's waist holding her hips against his.

"Do you remember that time in your room," Harry said seriously. Ginny licked her lips trying to hold back a smile.

"Not really, maybe you could describe it for me in detail," Ginny teased. Harry gave a nervous laugh.

"You know I love you, Gin," Harry said looking into her eyes. "But I'm not sure how far we should go. What if we go too far and we can't come back. I have this fear that I might lose you. That you won't like me anymore."

"I understand," Ginny said genuinely. "But that doesn't mean we can't still express our love. We don't have to go all the way if you don't want to, there are other things we can do."

"Really?" Harry said surprised. "Like what?" Ginny giggled and was about to tell him when a noise pulled their attention down the hall. The two broke apart and both pulled their wands out. Harry could hear a groaning of someone in pain.

"Come on," Harry said moving down the hall. Ginny followed right beside him. The sounds were growing louder and now Harry could hear words.

"uhhh… he…lp… uhh." Harry moved faster. The sounds were coming from the stairs down to the first floor. Harry saw a man lying on his back halfway up. He was clutching his side as though trying to hold something in. Harry moved quickly down to him.

"Oh my god," Ginny said. "It's Lupin!" Harry knelt down beside him. It was dark but Harry could still see blood running between Lupin's fingers and down onto the stairs. Harry took hold of his hand and pulled it away. A horrible wound had been opened in Lupin's side and Harry could see parts of his insides trying to escape. Lupin's breathing was ragged and each intake brought fresh blood oozing to the surface.

Harry could feel bile rising in his throat as looked at the torn flesh. Hermione had suggested that the DA practice healing magic, but they hadn't even begun researching it yet or even putting together a lesson plan. They had been too busy training with Lilith.

"This is really bad," Harry said looking up at Ginny. She had turned her head away and closed her eyes. "I don't know any healing spells, and I don't think we could get to the hospital wing." Ginny was shaking now as she looked away. Harry turned his attention back Lupin who was dying in front of him.

Harry couldn't see any other choice. He held his hands before his eyes. His fingers begun to meld together and shining red feathers tipped with black grew quickly out of his arms. Talon stood next to Lupin a moment later. Turning his head over the wound, Talon let the magical healing teardrops fall from his eyes. There was a hissing sound like something being burned. The wound began to close. Quickly Talon transformed back into Harry.

"Lupin," Harry said shaking the man. He hoped he hadn't been too late. "Lupin, answer me." Lupin's head rolled to the side his eyes barely opened as he looked at Harry.

"They are coming…" he whispered. An instant later shouting erupted downstairs and there came a great splintering of wood. It sounded as though the gates to Hogwarts had been blasted apart.

"Voldemort!" Harry said looking at Ginny. She looked very frightened. "We have to move to higher ground." Harry pointed his wand at Lupin and levitated him into the air. The sounds of shouting and footsteps were growing louder. Harry pushed a tapestry aside and pulled Ginny into the secret passage hidden behind it. Harry put his eye against the edge of the tapestry and looked into the hall.

Men appeared at the top of the stairs. Harry felt his face go slack. They were not Death Eaters, they were Aurors.

"Search the castle!" shouted the man at the front. Harry was sure his voice sounded familiar. "Don't let the werewolf get away." The Auror walked very slowly down the hall following after a group of Aurors that had just run off. He looked around as he walked, his eyes locked with Harry's for a moment and Harry was sure the man had seen him, but his gaze moved on.

Harry knew where he had seen this man before. He had been the lead Auror in St. Mungos, the one that had wanted to snap Harry's wand and kill Solaris. The man's footsteps faded away down the hall.

Why were Aurors after Lupin? So many reasons popped into Harry's head that he had to shake it to clear his thoughts. What do we do now? He could think of only one place to go, Dumbledore's office. But they would never be able to make it.

"We can't stay here," Ginny said. "We have to get him some place safe."

"I know," Harry said. He had to think, how could they get out of here? He could become a Phoenix and teleport them. No, he had never teleported anyone except himself before, and the one time he had tried to go some place that wasn't right in front of him he had ended up somewhere else. "Come on." Harry said flicking his wand to lift Lupin off the ground again.

Harry and Ginny ran down the secret passage, Lupin floating behind them. Harry wasn't entirely sure where this passage came out. Voices ahead of them brought Harry and Ginny to a halt. Aurors were here too. They were surrounded.

"I can get us out," Ginny said. Harry turned and looked at her, she looked nervous. "Nightmares can become ethereal, and anyone riding one does too. We could walk right past them and they wouldn't even see us." Hagrid's words seemed to jump in to Harry's mind. Nightmares are evil. Harry was sure he had never once before heard Hagrid call any creature evil.

"Alright," Harry said trying to hide the worry in his voice. He didn't see any other choice. Ginny closed her eyes focusing. Her face became longer and her hands lit with fire. She leaned forward and a moment later a Nightmare stood in the passageway with them. Its eyes opened, they were filled with flames.

Harry guided Lupin onto Ginny's back, then he slung himself up. Ginny's hoof struck against the ground sending sparks and flame into the air.

"What was that!" shouted a voice from outside. Harry looked at his hands, they were still visible. Whatever Ginny was going to do she had better do it quickly. Harry felt her body move beneath him. Slowly Ginny walked forward out through the tapestry into the hallway. But the tapestry did not move as she walked through it. It was almost like she was vanishing into the fabric. Lupin sunk away through the fabric next and Harry braced himself to crash into it and be forced from Ginny's back. Instead he felt an icy chill and the world became without color.

A group of Aurors stood in front of the tapestry now. Ginny was walking right through an Auror as though she were a ghost horse. A moment later one of the Aurors whipped his wand and the tapestry fell from the wall.

"Check it," said the Auror calmly. His voice sounded funny, like he was speaking through a long cardboard tube. With their wands out Aurors began to file down the passage.

"Don't worry they can't hear us," Ginny said turning her long face to the side to glance back at Harry. Harry was surprised.

"You, you can talk?" Harry said his voice sounded strange like a distant echo.

"Not talk," Ginny said looking forward again. "The ethereal world is a world of the mind. You are hearing projected thoughts." Harry nodded. He needed to be careful what he thought then.

"We need to get to Dumbledore's office Gin," Harry said. Ginny nodded, it was a very strange sight to see a horse nod.

"Right, and by the way, my name is Shadow in this form," Ginny said. Harry licked his lips uncomfortably. "Hold on, we're going to fly." Harry leaned forward against Lupin's back There wasn't anything to hold on to. All Harry could do was tighten his legs against Shadow's sides.

Shadow took two great sprinting steps and launched herself into the air on a trail of bright yellow and red flame. Fire seemed to be the only thing with color in this colorless world. It didn't feel like they were flying at all. In fact it felt like they were standing completely still.

Harry winced reflexively as they moved through the ceiling and up into the next floor like ghost. It was only moments later that they emerged into Dumbledore's office. The room was empty save for Fawks who was asleep. Harry shifted his weight to get off.

"NO!" Shadow cried. Harry's hand shot out and grabbed painfully at Shadow's skin working to pull himself back up. "If you dismount before we return from the ethereal plane you'll be trapped here. Without a physical anchor you would be sent spinning out into the infinity with no point of return." Harry righted himself. His heart was beating very fast. Shadow struck her hoof against the ground and walked forward very slowly.

As she moved the air parted as though she was walking though a hole in the air. Harry felt a chill as he passed through. The world once again had color.

"Can I get off now?" Harry asked. Shadow did not say any words but nodded her head. Harry swung his leg over thankful to be on solid ground again. Taking hold of Lupin Harry helped him off Shadow's back and she shrunk back to herself.

"Dumbledore isn't here," Harry whispered. Fawks opened his eyes and watched the three people that had just suddenly appeared in his master's office, with mild curiosity.

"Did you hear that?" Ginny said. Harry listened he could hear footsteps outside the door.

"Come on, help me move Lupin" Harry said. Ginny nodded and moved to Lupin's other side and put his arm around her shoulder. The three of them moved behind Dumbledore's desk and underneath the staircase that led up to the second level. A moment later Harry heard the door open and voices talking.

"The ministry has authorized us to use any means necessary to apprehend any dark wizard," said a voice. It was the same voice as the man from the hospital and the downstairs landing.

"What makes you think that the man you are looking for is here?" Dumbledore asked, his voice was calmly.

"We tracked him here, we lost him just inside the castle but he could not have gotten far, we wounded him badly." The Auror said.

"So," Dumbledore said and this time there was annoyance in his voice, "Instead of asking for our assistance you destroyed the front gate and risked the lives of innocent students."

"We, uh, there wasn't time. This man is very dangerous," the Auror answered. Something about the way he was talking told Harry that his words were not truthful. "He's a Werewolf and as I'm sure you are well aware, injures consistent with that of a werewolf that were responsible for the death of the late Minister."

"I have heard such claims," Dumbledore said. "However I have not seen anything to support them. Nor have you given me any reason to permit your Aurors to continue to tear apart my school."

"But the werewolf," the Auror protested.

"Is obviously not here. Unless he can fly or turn invisible," Dumbledore said. There was the sound of running footsteps, someone had just entered the room but was not speaking. Harry listened with all his might but there just seemed to be silence.

"It would appears you are correct, Headmaster," the Auror said. "My searchers can find no trace of him. My apologies." It did not sound like he was sorry at all. Dumbledore did not answer. There was the sound of slow footsteps walking away. "Oh, and Headmaster," the Auror said. "I don't need to remind you that if he should turn up it is your duty to contact us."

"Of course, if I see any werewolves I will send word to the ministry immediately." Dumbledore said. "Goodnight." There was another long pause of silence. "You can come out now. Harry and Ginny moved out from under the stairs. Dumbledore was looking at them.

"He was lying," Harry said. "Almost every word he said, Lupin would never do anything like that."

"I know," Dumbledore said holding up his hand and nodding softly. "However I fear something horrible has happened tonight. Is Remus in any condition to speak?"

"I've been better," Lupin said from behind Harry. There was a grunt as he got to his feet. "But I do I seem to have lost some injures." Lupin said rubbing the hole in his robe. "The Order," Lupin said panicked. "We were attacked. The house at number 12 has been overrun by Ministry officials. Moody and Tonks have been captured. The ministry is calling a special execution at midnight"

"Then we do not have much time," Dumbledore said. He looked very tired and very old in Harry's eyes. "We will have to act quickly if we are to save their lives."

"We want to help," Harry said volunteering himself and Ginny. Ginny nodded. Dumbledore looked at Harry as though sizing him up.

"You're not seriously considering it!" Lupin said shocked. "He's only sixteen, we can't get them involved in this!"

"But they are involved," Dumbledore said slowly. "Still I think it would be better for you to remain here, Harry. Solaris, will you ensure Harry and Ginny return to the dormitories and remain there." For a moment Harry was confused and then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Solaris had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"Of course, Headmaster," Solaris said giving a Harry a forceful lead towards the door. Harry knew argument would be useless. Dumbledore was an old fool after all.

---

"Have you been following us all night!" Harry said angrily to Solaris as they moved down the hall towards Gryffindor tower, there was no one else about.

"Yes," Solaris said simply. Solaris hand held very tightly to Harry's shoulder.

"So you were what was pulling on my tail," Ginny said.

"Yes," Solaris said.

"Look," Harry said pulling out of Solaris grip and turning to face him. "Dumbledore won't listen, but we can help. You just have to let us go. Moody and Tonks are our friends too. You know we can do it!"

"I'm sorry," Solaris said. "Dumbledore as asked me to make sure that you get back to your dormitories."

"He didn't say when though," Harry said quickly. Something had entered into his head. Maybe Dumbledore had given them a loophole. "We will go back to our dormitories, but curfew isn't until twelve o'clock, that still gives us…" Harry looked at Ginny who checked her watch.

"Almost an hour," Ginny said. Harry could see that she was following along.

"But first we need to make a stop in London," Harry said. "You can escort us of course." Solaris stood looking at Harry for a long moment. This wasn't going to work. At any moment Solaris would start laughing and start them moving back towards the dormitories.

"Alright," Solaris said. "As long we make it back before curfew." Harry was so surprised that he almost laughed.

"Okay, now we just need to find a way to get to London." Harry said. He could of course fly but London was hours away and by then it would be too late. Ginny could run very fast, but fast enough to get them to where they were going? Harry didn't think so.

"Solaris," Harry asked. "Do you still have that stone thing you used back in St. Mungos?" Solaris shook his head.

"It did not return with us." Solaris said.

"What about a portkey?" Harry said looking at Ginny to judge her opinion of the idea.

"But Dumbledore will never make one for us," Ginny said. Shaking her head.

"Who said anything about asking Dumbledore, Hermione probably knows how to make one, if we can just go wake her up…" Harry said.

"I will remind you that if you enter the dormitories I will be bound to keep you there." Solaris said.

"Solaris, please she's our… only…" Harry paused. Someone was running down the hallway towards them. "…chance." Harry said looking over at Ginny who looked just as confused. It was Hermione, still dressed in her red gown and Ron being pulled along behind her. "Hermione?" Harry asked surprised as she came to a stop in front of him. Both Ron and Hermione looked out of breath from running. "What are you doing here?"

"She's crazy this one," Ron said confused. "One minute we were, uh talking, and then Hermione just sort of grabbed me an' dragged me along and won't tell me what's going on."

"It's the Order!" Ginny said. "They've been attacked and…"

"The ministry is going to kill Moody and Tonks," Hermione said. Even Solaris looked at Hermione in surprise. "Yes it is a little creepy, Harry."

"I didn't say that out loud," Harry replied feeling uncomfortable.

"No, have you forgotten our minds are still connected!" Hermione said. "Ron give me your shoe." Hermione's normal sense of insightfulness was unnerving enough but this new trend almost frightened Harry. Just how much of Harry's thoughts could Hermione hear?

"What?" Ron said puzzled. At least Ron was still as dim as ever, which Harry found amusing and annoying at the same time. "Why do you want my shoe?"

"Ronald!" Hermione and Harry said together.

"Alright," Ron said looking a litter unnerved. He took a knee and started to undo his laces.

"I won't be able to cast the full portkey spell on the Hogwarts grounds," Hermione said. "But Solaris should be able to help me around that, right Professor?" Hermione asked.

"I will assist," Solaris said.

"Here," Ron said holding his shoe out to Hermione. She swiped if from Ron's hand without a thank you and pulled her wand from her robes.

"_Portus_," Hermione said and then she struck the shoe very hard with her wand tip. It glowed a dull blue for a moment. Solaris held his hand out over the shoe and glowed again, a brighter blue this time.

"Alright," Hermione said, "Everyone take hold." Everyone reached out and touched a part of the shoe in Hermione's hand. A moment later Harry felt a hook someplace behind his navel and his feet were pulled from the ground.

---

The five of them landed in a dark alleyway. Harry wasn't entirely sure how far away they were from the Ministry of Magic or even where they had landed. He hoped that Hermione had not taken them to the wrong place.

"Ah, yuck!" Ron said lifting his socked foot from a puddle of muddy water. "Honestly that's not fair." Ron said angrily shaking his wet foot.

"How far are we away from the Ministry?" Harry asked looking at Hermione.

"Two blocks, there's a magical barrier around it preventing us from porting any closer." Hermione said handing the shoe back to Ron who took it shaking his head.

"Come on then let's go!" Harry said.

"Harry, wait!" Hermione said taking hold of his shoulder. "We don't have a plan. It's not going to be like last time, there'll be Aurors there and ministry officials. Even if we can save Moody and Tonks they'll see us and start hunting us. We need a plan! We can't just rush in!" Harry fought back the urge to push her off and burst in through the front door. But she was right, they needed a plan.

"Almost all of us are animagus," Ginny said. "We could rescue them like that."

"But Solaris and Ron aren't," Harry said.

"Then you're just going to have to go without us," Ron said. Harry, Hermione and Ginny's eyes all fell on Ron with surprise. "It's the only plan we have. A good strategist knows when and what pieces to use."

"Solaris you'll have to wait here too." Harry said. "You might be able to hide yourself but it's too big a risk for you to come along. They already saw you once at the hospital and tried to kill you."

"Then I will just have to ensure they do not see me," Solaris said. Harry wanted to argue more but they were wasting time.

"We don't have time for this." Harry said. "It's your decision, but you'll only be putting our lives in danger if you come along.

"They will not see me," Solaris said again. He was more stubborn than Harry sometimes.

"Let's go," Harry said. Focusing he became Talon. Flame burned around Ginny as she became Shadow and Hermione dropped to her hands and knees as she transformed into Paws.

Leading the way Harry flapped his wings flying just off the ground while a Nightmare and a Kasar running along behind him.

---

"Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks," Lucius Malfoy said looking coldly down at Moody and Tonks who stood in front of him. Their hands were bound behind their backs and two Aurors for each of them, standing on either side, held them fast. The death veil loomed behind Lucius its black curtain blowing gently even though the air in the room was still. "You have been sentenced to die for your crimes against the Ministry of Magic and the Wizard of Britain. We give you this one last chance to tell us the names of the other conspirators and the location of your werewolf friend."

Tonks spit on Malfoy. The many wizards that were sitting on the stone benches watching whispered and talked in offended voices.

"We would never tell anything to a death eater like you," Tonks said angrily. One of the Aurors grabbed her hair and pulled her head back hard.

"You may kill us," Moody growled loudly, "but wizards will figure out soon enough that you're just one of Voldemort's pawns." Malfoy leaned forward, his eyes icy cold.

"Only death eaters would speak so freely the name of their dark master," Malfoy said. "It is sad that two good Aurors could be corrupted into his embrace. I take no pleasure in what we are about to do," Malfoy straightened up and now he was addressing the whole room with false sadness in his face, "but it is something that must be done. Action must be taken. And those that do evil must be punished." Malfoy lowered his voice and looked down at his robe and then at Tonks. "Send her through first."

The Aurors began to move Tonks up onto dais and towards the veiled arch. She struggled against her captors shouting. Moody was cursing loudly. Malfoy pointed his wand at Moody's mouth and silenced him.

"No!" Tonks screamed trying to fight off the two Aurors. Malfoy was watching, enjoying ever second of her struggle to live. Suddenly there was a loud bang and burst of flame erupted near the ceiling of the room and a great red phoenix soared out from a burst of flame. Shouts erupted from the spectators and the Aurors stopped pushing Tonks.

"It's Dumbledore!" Malfoy sneered, "push her through, NOW!" The Aurors gathered their strength readying to make one great push and shove her through.

The long black head of a horse emerged from the veil, its eyes glowing with fire. People began to scream as the scrambled over each other trying to get away.

The Aurors looked horrified. A phoenix song rang throughout the room and suddenly spells began erupting outwards from the bird. One of them hit the Auror that had been holding Tonks and he collapsed to the ground. The other let go and ran past Malfoy following after the crowd that was trying to escape.

Tonks was frozen with fear looking into the fiery eyes of the Nightmare that had emerged from the veil of death. It turned its head and its teeth took hold Tonk's shoulder and pulled her back through the veil. Malfory was frozen with fear. Death had just reached out and taken someone right before his eyes.

There was a low snarl from behind Malfoy. He whirled around to see a great tiger like beast crouched ready to spring.

"No!" Malfoy cried backing away. "Stay back!" The heel of his shoe caught on the edge of a raised stone and he toppled backwards with a scream. His arm passed through the veil. He looked at it horrified. Rolling away his arm followed limply. It had turned gray and the skin began to peel away from it. Malfoy looked horrified as he watched his arm turn to dust before his eyes.

Even if Moody had not been silenced he felt too weak to form words. His friend had been taken by death. It had just reached out of the veil and grabbed her. Yet the justice that was supposed to be equal for all had spared Lucius Malfoy.

Moody turned to look for the Kasar that had caused Malfoy to stumble, but it had vanished. Suddenly Moody felt talons dig into his shoulders and with a burst of flame found himself outside.

"Hold on," said a voice from behind Moody, "I'll have this off you in a second." Moody tried to respond but he was still silenced and no words came out. Moody felt the bindings fall from his wrists. He turned to see who it was that had commanded the Phoenix! To his great surprise it was not as he had first thought, it was not Dumbledore. Harry Potter stood there smiling.

"Looks like we cut it pretty close," Harry said smiling. "At least we still have a minute to make it back before curfew."

* * *

Authors Notes:

And so is Chapter 26. Yeah wow I keep think damn! 26 chapters, that's crazy. And then I go around the site reading some other stories and they are like 70+ chapters. Yeah that's a little beyond how far I want to go. I am shooting for like 30ish chapters I'll know exactly as I get closer to the end which should be fairly soon. Cuze I wrote it last night.

I would also like to remind everyone that this story is DRAMA first which means lots of plot twist, Deus ex Machina's and plot devices will be thrown in. Pretty much everything short of Harry's evil twin, Hernado, will get added into this story if I can. Or maybe Hernado is the good twin?...

Tomorrow is Friday, I get my book at midnight and will most likely have it finished before morning. So, while I didn't get my story done before book 6 but that doesn't mean I won't get it done.

You can still look forward to the ending, (because guess what I have already written it!) if you still want to know how it all turns out.


	27. – Solaris and Puck

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

* * *

By: Starwin

Chapter 27 – Solaris and Puck

* * *

The months passed quickly into winter. Gryffindor had beaten Hufflepuff in Quidditch but only just. Ravenclaw, as Harry had guessed, destroyed Slytherin with a 300 to nothing victory and a win now seemed impossible.

It was cold out by Hagrid's hut as they stood for this care of magical creatures class. This was Harry's last lesson before his Christmas break and even though he liked Hagrid's classes Harry wished this one would be over soon so he could get back inside.

"I 'ad wanted ta bring a Seraphim to class fer this lesson," Hagrid boomed out over the students. He seemed to be the only person that was not affected by the cold, "but none were willing to come, and it would be very hard to find one.

"They're masters of illusion. They can hide themselves and even their home from both Muggles and Wizards," Hagrid continued. That seemed to make sense after all. Almost all of Solaris's classes had involved some kind of illusion. "They can be very hard to spot when they don't want to be seen, becoming all but invisible or even becoming someone else entirely."

"You can identify a Seraphim by, if they aren't hiding them, their magical wings. Their feathers are anti magic, making um almost impervious to most magic. Like Goblins, Seraphim prefer to fight hand to hand, usually with very sharp weapons.

"Now…" Hagrid paused looking up over the class. Harry, and the rest of the class turned to see who Hagrid was looking at. Harry felt his eyes go wide as he spotted Professor Solaris walking down through the snow towards them. He had on his normal black robes and his arms were wrapped tightly around him. He looked very cold and not at all pleased to be outside. Harry couldn't believe it. Had Solaris volunteered for this class, just like Dobby or Firenze?

"Sorry, Hagrid," Solaris said over the crowd of students. "I need to have a word with Draco Malfoy, if he is here."

"Uh, yeah, alright," Hagrid said waving at Malfoy to leave. Malfoy looked like he wanted to do anything but leave with Professor Solaris. However they did not go far, only walking out of ear shot to talk. Hagrid started speaking again but Harry wasn't listening. He was watching Malfoy and Solaris wondering what they could be talking about, trying to will his ears to hear them.

"'Arry!" Hagrid said. Harry turned back surprised.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure whatever Professor Solaris 'as ta discuss is private," Hagrid said uncomfortably.

"Sorry," Harry said. Hagrid nodded and looked a little relieved.

"Anyhow…" Hagrid continued. Harry heard the crunching of snow as Malfoy rejoined the class. He had a distressed look on his scarred face.

At last Hagrid finished up and assigned no homework for the Christmas brake.

"Well," Ron said stretching. "Looks like Snape was the only person mean enough to give us homework."

"Professor McGonagall also gave you homework," Hermione reminded him.

"Hermione do you have to rain on everything?" Ron asked rolling his eyes and looking at her.

"Besides," Hermione said. "I am sure now that we have some time off from class we are going to be training the DA a lot more."

"Yeah," Ron said excitedly. "I've been doing research on tactics and such…" Hermione coughed. "…uh, we've been doing research. Harry, we should move to training outdoors. Let everyone get a feel for what combat will really be like." Harry nodded. He had been wanting to do that every since Lilith had completed their training program a few weeks ago and suggested the should 'train as they fight, fight as they train.' She had said that all they had to do now was practice, practice, practice, so that's what they had been doing.

"I also sent a letter to Fred and George's joke shop," Hermione said. Harry couldn't believe that Hermione wanted to get pranks and gags from the twins. "I asked them to send me lots of extendable ears, so we can start training with them to communicate with people."

Both Ron and Hermione had been finding ways to integrate spells into the hand to hand combat that Lilith had taught them. Neville had started training some select members in the art of healing. Harry had tried to sit in on a couple lessons but found he didn't have quite the stomach for it.

Overall in the few short months since the start of the year the DA had become almost unrecognizable. With more than a hundred members they were well organized and very capable. But they still had not fought against anyone else.

Hermione let the DA know that they were to stay at school over break so they could move to the next level of training. Harry had expected at least one complaint or protest but everyone seemed fine with this. Harry was very proud of everyone's hard work.

Harry was uneasy. The prophecy he had heard in St. Mungos had been at the surface of his mind ever since his divination lesson with Solaris. Part of it had said '_The shadows will again be free again at five past the New Year.' _Harry could think of only one shadow, the one in his head. Three times they had locked it away but according to this prophecy it would get free again at some point, '_five past the New Year_' according to the prophecy. At first Harry had just assumed that it meant 'five months' past the New Year, and five months were a very long time from now. But the more Harry thought about it the more he had begun to worry. The New Year was drawing closer and Harry felt himself wondering if he had misinterpreted the prophecy. What if it didn't mean months? What if it had meant minutes, hours, days or maybe even years?

Harry had tried reading the book that Professor Trelawney had given him at the start of year, but it was no good. The passages in the book talked about time interpretation all seemed to contradict themselves every other sentence. In the end Harry tossed the book back under his bed. Why had he even thought that he would find something like that helpful. Divination was a hoax, none of it was real. The scar on Malfoy's face, Harry had seen that.

But just as easily another prophecy contradicted. '_The boy who lived shall lose the love that he holds dear.'_ Harry hadn't lost Ginny that night, he hadn't even lost Hermione. He had lost no one. It was a prophecy that hadn't come true and that's what worried Harry so much.

---

Christmas had come and gone. It had been enjoyable but Harry for the most part couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling keep haunting him whenever he was left to think on his own. Harry wanted badly to talk with Ginny about the prophecy that kept running though his head but he was too frightened. And at the same time he kept telling himself that none of it was true, prediction had already come and gone and nothing had come of it.

Tonight was New Year's Eve. The start of school was drawing closer and Harry had neglected all of his homework. He sat on his bed reading the book Hermione had given him called the _Art of War_ written by a muggle called Sun Tzu. It had some very strange ideas in it. Hermione had told Harry that she had made Ron read it and that he had enjoyed it very much.

It wasn't any good though Harry just couldn't concentrate. He would read a passage of text but it was like he hadn't stored any of the information in his brain at all. His mind kept wonder to other things, well one other thing.

The sun was setting. Harry checked the watch that Ginny had gotten for him for Christmas. It was seven forty. Less then five hours before this day was over. It had been a day that Harry had worried about, the first multiple of five, New Year's day. Harry turned back to the book.

'In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots…' Harry read to himself from the book. A strange sound drew Harry's attention away. It was a very odd sound, like something vibrating against wood.

"Ron what's that sound?" Harry asked. Ron looked up from the chess game he had been playing against Neville, who, had just wandered off to the bathroom a moment ago. The vibrating noise sounded again and Harry was able to trace it to Ron's trunk. Ron shrugged obviously not knowing what it was either.

Moving carefully from his bed, as not to knock over the chess game, Ron got down on his knees in front of his trunk and opened it. He began pulling things from inside. Finally he pulled a bluish mirror out. It was vibrating in his hands. Ron shot Harry a distraught look.

"But that's impossible," Harry said setting his book face down on the bed not wanting to lose his place. Harry got off his bed and moved over to stand behind Ron so that he would have a better view of the mirror. "I left my mirror on Avalon and who would be calling us from there?" Ron shrugged. Suddenly the mirror activated. The face of a young girl appeared in it. Harry recognized her as one of Seraphim he had seen on Avalon, her name had been 'Eeesee' or something like that. Ron and Harry exchanged concerned glances.

"Uh, hello," Harry said looking into the mirror. For a brief moment he wondered if he was in some kind of trouble for leaving his mirror behind. But the look the look on the girls' face told him that something else was very wrong.

"Where is Solaris? Where is Puck?" the girl asked from the mirror.

"I'm not sure," Harry said. "What's wrong?"

"It's Avalon," she said. "_He is here_! We're under attack! Please you must find Solaris!" There was a crash in the background and shouts. The girl turned with surprise on her face. The image flickered and went out.

"Hello! Are you there?" Harry shouted at the mirror, but it did not activate again. Harry and Ron exchanged dark looks. "Ron, get the D.A. ready to go, just like we've practiced," Ron nodded. This was it. This was what they had been training for. The moment had come, the war had started. Voldemort had made his move and now it was up to Harry and the D.A.

Harry went for his map in his trunk but found that it wasn't there, he had forgotten it was still in Ginny's room. How was he going to find Solaris without the map, he could be anywhere in the castle. The only hope was that he was in his office.

Sprinting downstairs Harry rushed out the portrait hole and down towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. He pulled open the door but, the room was not on the other side. Instead he was looking at the strangest thing he had ever seen. He was looking at himself holding the door open in front of him, who was looking at himself, who was looking at himself and so on to infinity. It was like looking into a hall of endless mirrors. Harry stepped though, as did all of his images. He didn't have time for this. He had to quickly solve this illusion.

Harry tried to organize his mind, to put all his thoughts in order. What was this illusion, how did you get past it? The answer drifted to him. Harry stepped backwards and took hold of the door he had just come through. Himself in front of him did the same. Harry turned around after the door had shut and found himself in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class room, it was empty.

Harry rushed past the desk and up the staircase to Solaris's office. Without knocking Harry threw the door open but Solaris was not inside. Harry couldn't believe it. He had wasted so much time and Solaris wasn't even here.

"Harry?" said a voice from behind Harry. Harry turned. Solaris was standing behind him with papers in his hands. "I see you managed to get past the mirror illusion outside, that was for my next class but I guess I'll…"

"Avalon is under attack," Harry interrupted. The papers fell from Solaris hand.

"What," Solaris said and Harry could see panic in his eyes. "How do you know this?"

"I left a mirror on Avalon and we just got a message a few minutes ago." Harry said. Solaris face became hard.

"I must return to Avalon," Solaris said urgently turning and moving down the stairs to with quick steps. Harry followed behind him.

"We're going with you." Harry said. "I have an army ready to fight. We've been training for this for a long time." Harry had expected a protest from Solaris but he did not even show any sign that he had heard Harry as they moved quickly out of the class room. "Is there a way to get us all to Avalon?"

"Yes," Solaris said. "But we must hurry. Tell your army to meet us at the lake."

'On our way,' Hermione's response came back before Harry had even had time to think it. 'I'll be there once I've gotten it from Snape's office.' Harry nodded, even though Hermione could not see him.

"They're on their way," Harry said. Solaris nodded and the two of them moved almost at full sprint out towards the lake. As they exited the gates of Hogwarts, Malfoy blocked their path, his wand was out and he looked angry.

"This is your fault!" Malfoy said. "If it hadn't been for you none of this would have happened!" Malfoy shouted. There something was different about Malfoy. Harry couldn't place his finger on. "It is time we end this now," Malfoy leveled his wand to attack.

"We don't have time for this," Solaris said drawing his sword. Harry was surprised, never once had Solaris drawn his sword at Hogwarts nor had he ever taken such action against a student. Malfoy was breathing hard and angrily now. It did not seem like he was frightened of Solaris at all, like he was ready to attack him without hesitation.

"I have no quarrel with you," Malfoy said his eyes focusing on Solaris. The way he spoke did not sound like Malfoy at all. He sounded almost like Solaris.

"Get out of our way Malfoy!" Harry said pulling out his own wand.

"That isn't Malfoy," Solaris said. "It's Puck." Malfoy frowned.

For a long moment Harry's brain seem to lag behind. 'Puck?' Where had he heard that name before. Then Harry had a brief recollection of the Seraphim clad in the red armor back on the island of Avalon. The one that had challenged Harry's right to remain there.

Harry seemed to realized something as he stared at Malfoy trying to see how Solaris could even think two looked alike at all. But then Harry spotted it. He saw something that had been right there in front of him the whole time. Malofy's scar it was on the wrong side of his face. The air rippled around Malfoy and the illusion faded as Harry saw past it. A Seraphim clad in red armor stood before them. His wand had changed becoming a long, sharp halberd.

"How long have you known, _Solaris_?" the Seraphim in red armor asked, his fist was clenched tightly around his long spear like weapon.

"Since I first saw your scar, _Puck_," Solaris said. "The mirror image illusion creates just that, a mirror image. I had to find the real student you impersonated and ensure that the scar was on the wrong side. I do not know why you have done the things you done but we do not have time for your games. Voldemort moves against Avalon."

"I know!" Puck said angry. "It is Harry Potter's fault. If he had not been so hard to kill the Dark lord would never have attacked our home."

"What! Wait…" Harry said. "It was you!" The sudden realization stuck Harry. It had not been Malfoy attacking him all this time. Malfoy did not have a time turner. Puck had been using the Seraphim gifts of illusion. That why Harry was one of the few people who had been able to see him. And it had not been until Harry had scared his face that the regular attacks had stopped. "So you've been in league with Voldemort this whole time? Why? And why did you attack Ginny?"

"He promised that if I did his bidding he would not attack Avalon. As for the girl she just got in the way." Puck snarled. "I was unable to kill you, but it something I am about to rectify." Puck lowered his long spear like weapon and rushed at Harry. Harry's mind blanked, he didn't have time to cast a spell or move. Solaris moved out in front of Harry, there was clash of metal.

"We do not have time, we must return home." Solaris said. His voice was strained as he held back Puck's attack with all his strength.

"Home, it is not your home!" Puck spat. "You abandoned Avalon long ago. It is your fault that this happens now, _Solaris_."

"It is both our faults, or have you forgotten that, _Puck_?" Solaris said. They pushed apart. Harry had only a moment to move aside as Solaris moved quickly backwards.

Solaris' wings erupted outwards. Shreds of his black Hogwarts robes sailed into the air. He was clad in the same light blue armor Harry had seen on him back at Privet Drive. The two Seraphim stood two lengths apart. Both had their wings spread open like claws hanging around them. Their armor glowing in the dying sun as it set. The white snow on the grown made it look as though they were fighting on a bright white light. Solaris made the first move this time, Puck blocked as Solaris' sword struck the metal shaft of his halberd.

The battle became much faster as the two exchanged blows with incredible quickness that Harry almost couldn't see their movements. Their feet kicked snow into the air as they danced about each other and weapons sent sparks into the air around them with sound of clashing metal.

Harry aimed his wand trying to find an opening, but they were too close together, Harry couldn't risk casting a spell. All he could do was watch and hope that his army would get here quickly and that Hermione would be able to get the thing from Snape's office.

There was a roar of pain as Solaris' blade tore through one of Puck's white wings. The fallen white feathered limb fell to the snow splattering it red with blood. The Seraphim pulled apart from each other. Puck's lower wing wrapped around the stump of the one above it, cradling it like a broken limb. There was rage on Puck's face.

"I cannot allow you to return to Avalon," Puck said, his eyes flickered to Harry. "I cannot allow you to take him there."

"You fear the uncertain future Puck," Solaris said. "Of all the Seraphim I have known you were the only one that ever told me to question my destiny. The only one that ever considered for a moment that the things Titania had seen might not come true. But you have changed."

"Because I was a fool," Puck said with anger in his eyes. "I could not see what was right in front of me, yet everyone else could. Even you saw what would happen, what you would do. From the day you were born the evil was inside you and nothing could change that. Your future was written. Just like his," Puck looked at Harry again.

"What do you mean," Harry said. "What future?"

"Your future is set in stone, just like Solaris," Puck said. "…_and the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…_" puck said in a chant. Harry had heard that before, it was the prophecy he had heard in Dumbledore's office, but how could Puck possibly know that. Dumbledore had told Harry that he had shown no one the prophecy, save for Harry. "…_The boy who lived shall lose the love that he holds dear… The shadows will again be free again at five past the New Year…And none who live shall put an end to evil she makes whole…or break the chain that anchors, the shadows immortal soul._" Harry had heard that too but, not the second part.

"That's not what the second prophecy said," Harry said angrily, now Puck was just making things up.

"I was there," Puck said, "I heard the words with my own ears." Harry looked at Solaris.

"He speaks the truth," Solaris said, "those were the words that were spoken."

"WHAT! Why didn't you tell me," Harry said angrily. Dumbledore had not given him the whole prophecy, he had lied.

"I gave you what I was told to give," Solaris said. "What Dumbledore asked me to." Harry stepped away shaking his head. "If you believe so much in the absolute future Puck then you must know that you cannot win. That Harry will go to meet his destiny today." Puck's face contorted with anger and holding his halberd out, he rushed Solaris. This seemed to be what Solaris was waiting for though because he stepped aside and with a quick movement brought his blade across Pucks chest.

Puck's momentum carried him forward and he crashed into the snow. Solaris sheathed his sword and looked sadly down at the Seraphim he had just mortally wounded. Puck lay on his side, the white snow around him quickly turning crimson. With the last of his strength he rolled to his back and looked up at Solaris. There was a forced smile on Puck's face, blood trickled form the corner of his mouth.

"I guess none of us can escape our fate," Puck coughed. _"…one by the hand of his brother…_" Puck gasped for air, "…_the other by the hand of his enemy… the sons of Oberon shall not see the sun together again… as the shores of Avalon are stained with the…_'cough'_… blood of the fallen…but hope…_" Puck's voice trailed off. His head lowered slowly turning slightly so that his unblinking eyes fell on Harry. And Harry knew he was dead.

Harry looked at Solaris who had his eyes closed and his head bowed.

"…_but hope shall not be lost_." Solaris said finishing the quote. "They were the words our mother spoke on the day Puck was born. We must hurry to Avalon, hope shall not be lost.

---

Harry and Solaris arrived at the edge of the black lake. The D.A. was already gathered there. Harry could see that they had geared up and many were wearing the shields Lilith had brought them and some even had on the black power suits. Hermione and Ginny stepped out of the ranks of students moving to Harry as he approached.

"Are you alright Harry," Hermione asked. Harry licked his lips and gave Ginny and uneasy look.

"Yeah," Harry lied. "Hermione did you…" She held out something wrapped in a handkerchief and handed it to Harry. Harry took it and stuffed it into his pocket quickly, he would put it on during the boat ride to Avalon. "Alright Solaris, were ready to go. So how do we get there?"

Solaris moved past the ranks of students to the edge of the lake and waved his hand over the water. "Setemus metaus Oberones, tata et Avalon!" The water in the lake began to boil. A fleet of boats, like the one Hermione and Harry had traveled in, rose from the water as though they had been sunken, waiting below the surface.

"Solaris how long will these boats take?" Harry asked because the last time he had taken a boat from Avalon the trip had taken three days. If this trip took the same amount of time they would arrive far too late.

"The trip will be swift," Solaris said stepping into one of the boats. "Follow behind me and do not lose sight of my boat."

"Ron," Harry said. Ron moved closer to here, "get everyone in the boats, try and make sure squads stay together." Ron nodded and then began shouting orders. They had never trained to pile into boats before but Harry thought that D.A. did very well.

Soon every boat was full. Harry got into the same boat as Solaris and pointed Ginny and Hermione to different boats as he asked Ron to come with him to formulate strategy on the way over. Solaris stood at the front of their boat, his wings opened from around his body. His hand pointed out across the lake.

"Boats of Avalon, take us home," Solaris said. Suddenly the boat jolted forward and began to move very fast. Solaris wrapped his wings down around him and crossed his arms but still remaining standing.

Harry looked around as the other boats began to speed alongside. Though only a moment ago the Harry had been able to see the other side of the lake a thick fog appeared in front of them. The boat rushed towards it very fast. "To Avalon," Solaris whispered to himself. "And hope we're not too late."

* * *

Authors Notes:

We are getting close to the end, only two chapters beyond this, both are written I just need to check and proof and such.

Unfortunately it might be a while. I know you are so close to the ending and (at least I hope) you want to know what's going to happen however you will most likely have to suffer another week at most of not knowing.

I have just finished off HPatHBP (book 6) and even though my work is all written and done prior to release, my editing is not. At the moment I am however feeling sapped of strength and editing does no appeal to me at the moment.

I wont say anything about book 6 other its left me on a down note (but so did book 5).


	28. – Return to Avalon

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 28 – Return to Avalon

The thick white fog was starting to clear. The trip seemed very short. The boats could not have traveled much further than perhaps the other side of the black lake but it was not the shore of the other side of the lake that awaited them or the calm water that they sailed upon. The island of Avalon stood against the night sky, rising out of the ocean waves.

Fire burned from the spot where Harry knew the castle should be and he felt a pang of guilt inside him. They were too late, Avalon had already fallen. Were the Death Eaters even here anymore? Had Voldemort even come? Harry knew the answer. His scar had been silent for a long time but Voldemort was too close now for the pain to be blocked. Almost like an alarm sensor Harry's scar was burning dully on his head so that it felt as though someone had pressed a hot metal wire against his forehead.

Absently Harry squeezed the item in his pocket that Hermione had taken form Snape's office for him. His brain seemed to realize that he had not put it on yet. Pulling it from his pocket he unwrapped it carefully and put it on, hiding it beneath his robes.

Ron was looking wide eyed at him as though he couldn't believe what Harry was doing. "Harry!" Ron said. "What are you planning to…" Harry waved him off the other boats were very close to him and this was not something he wanted to talk about. The idea had been Hermione's and at the moment she was the only person who knew everything that Harry feared might happen tonight. Over the past months the connection had become stronger. It was almost like they had been sharing the same thoughts sometimes but right now he could barely hear her at all.

"Just in case," Harry said squeezing the item uneasily. Part of the plan would be that Hermione would be able to help but he didn't know if that would be possible anymore. He just had to hope that he was wrong.

The boats skidded up onto the sandy beach and the DA members jumped out, wands drawn. However there was no one waiting for them on the shore. As each boat emptied it slid backwards into the water and sunk beneath the surface.

"I will meet you at the castle," said Solaris and his wings opened to take flight. Harry reached out and took his wrist before he could.

"You should stick with us," Harry said. Solaris looked at Harry and for a moment Harry thought he might start screaming at him but instead he nodded.

"Alright," said Ron. "Our first order of business is to find out what we're up against. Do you think you can manage the spell Harry?" Ron asked. Harry looked uncertainly at Hermione who nodded.

"I think we can do it." Harry said. Hermione was already pulling parchment from her robes. She pressed it down on the sand holding it flat. Harry began preformed the first part of the spell. Moving his wand in triangle in the air and said "_Expans Cebrium._" The tip of Harry's wand glowed golden for a moment and the outline of the triangle glowed in the air. As though he were trying to push a hundred pound weight Harry forces his wand and the triangle down towards the parchment. The two touched and with a flash the triangle burned into the map. Golden lines raced inside the triangle.

Hermione tapped the parchment with her wand but did not speak any words. As though she had spilled an ink bottle on the parchment a black liquid began to spread across the map. The outline of the triangle remained even as ink spread across it.

As though it were alive the ink began to scatter across the parchment like little ants making a rough circle. The tiny pellets of ink began to make other shapes, things that Harry recognized as the Moonwell and the stairs to the castle of Avalon. The spell had worked, they had a map of Avalon! It only took a few moments more before the ink stopped spreading and the gold triangle sunk down into the parchment. Names began to appear all over the map.

Many names were gathered along the stairs that lead up to the castle, many were in the castle itself and two large groups stood on shore, on either side, of Avalon. One was the D.A. The others must be Death Eaters.

Ron poured over the map for a long moment.

"Alright," Ron said at last. "Our first target should be this group." Ron said pointing at the group of Death Eaters on the far shore. "I count thirty of them, it looks like the highest concentration so it's most likely their main force. If we can take them out of even cut them off from reaching any place else we will have this battle by numbers." Harry nodded agreeing with Ron's plan even though he hardly heard a word of it. His eyes were searching the map looking for Voldemort. "We should also send two advanced groups up to the castle, along with Solaris." Ron said looking at the Seraphim. "I suggest Ginny's and Hermione's teams because they can both scout invisible." Harry nodded again not hearing until Ginny's name clicked in his head.

"No, Ron I would rather that Ginny's team stay here." Harry said uneasily. Both Ron and Ginny shot Harry uncertain looks. Ginny looked a bit angry.

"Don't you try and pull the 'I'm worried about your safety,' card!" Ginny said building up into a rage. "We knew that this was coming…"

"But…" Harry tried to interrupt.

"…and we both agreed that we would do whatever it took to stop Voldemort…"

"But Gin…"

"…and I am going to fight just like you trained us to do Harry!" Ginny shouted angrily and with that she began to march off calling out her squad that followed behind her obediently.

"Hermione…" Harry said looking at her with sharp eyes. Even though their link was weak at the moment Hermione still knew what he was thinking. With a quick nod Hermione turned to follow after Ginny.

"Wait!" Ron said and he pulled from his pocket two flesh colored strings. He handed one to Hermione and then another one. Hermione nodded and took off after Ginny, her squad moving after her and the almost invisible extendable ears trailing out behind her.

Harry let out an exasperated sigh. That had not gone the way he had wanted. "Solaris follow…" But Solaris was no longer standing with them, Harry looked around at the ranks of students who were standing waiting for orders, but he could not spot Solaris. Harry looked down at the map but if Solaris was some place on the island Harry could not find him at a glance.

"Okay," Harry said. "What's the plan, where do you want us?" Ron traced his finger along two sides of the map.

"All remaining groups will split up and attack from both sides, catching our enemy in a pincer attack. With any luck you'll be able to take them by surprise." Ron said. "Harry your team will lead the attack from this side," Ron moved his finger along the shore that went behind the castle. "groups 5-8 will go with you and groups 4, and 9-15 will go around the front. We want don't want the Death Eaters to know which side _you're_ coming from." Harry nodded.

"Okay Ron, move um out," Harry said. Ron nodded after pointing his wand at his throat Ron's voice boomed out across the groups as he shouted orders. Students began to move around the beach. One person from every group came to get a pair of extendable ears from Ron.

"Remember," Harry shouted over the movement. "If you encounter Voldemort DO NOT engage, fall back and contact Ron. LET'S MOVE!" Harry and the squads following him moved quickly along the shore, they were heading to the far side of Avalon.

"Message coming in from Ron," said Dean who had gotten the extendable ears in Harry's squad. "He says that groups two and three have reach the front of the castle. However group two is not holding to scout, they're advancing." Harry cursed under his breath. Group two was Ginny's group. She hadn't taken extendable ears with here and she also hadn't stuck around for Harry's orders.

"Tell Ron to move group three in for support," Harry said. "If possible I want them all out of there." Dean nodded and began speaking through the extendable ear in his hand back to Ron.

The night air was cold but it was not what was making the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand on end. Screams and shouts were filling the air now as they passed behind the castle. Flames licked at the sky and turned the beach to day. They had to be there soon, the Death Eaters could not be far now.

"The second advance has been spotted and has engaged with the Death Eater camp," Dean said. Harry cursed again. Their trip was longer this way around but Harry had thought they'd allotted enough time to arrive together.

And then, as they turned a sharp outcropping of rock on the shore Harry could see spells racing through the night air. He could hear shouts, the cries of students and Death Eaters alike.

Without words Harry motioned for his squads to spread and attack. Harry drew his baton. The Death Eaters had not spotted them coming from this side yet. Which meant that they could get good and close. Harry spotted a group of Death Eaters crouching behind a rock. Every now and then they would look up over it and fire a spell at the D.A. squads on the other side.

Without a moments hesitation Harry rushed them, his baton extended and the shield on his arm activated. They had only a moments warning. Jinxes and Hex flew at Harry but the shield deflected them. Harry swung with deadly accuracy as he let in upon the three Death Eaters, with in moments they were broken upon the ground. This wasn't over, not by a long shot.

---

Ginny pressed the attack as she moved up the stairs, her squad behind her. There was little if no cover from attack and the air was heavy with spells from their enemies. The shields they had been using had taken all that they could and lay discarded many steps behind them.

"Ginny!" Hermione said as she ducked under a curse that flew over head. "We need to fall back and wait for the rest of the D.A.!" But Ginny ignored her warning. She had seen him, Tom, going into the castle. He had looked right at her, almost mockingly as though he was taunting her to follow him.

Angrily Ginny shot spells into the air. She had hit a few of the Death Eaters with Bat-Bogie-Hex's but there were still many of them blocking the path into the castle.

"He's here!" Ginny shouted back at Hermione. "Tom! We have to get him, we have to stop him!" Hermione looked a little surprised. Ginny knew she didn't understand. Her and Harry might be connected but that didn't mean she knew everything about Harry. She obviously didn't know about the prophecy that said that either Tom or Harry must die by the others hand. Ginny would not let that happen. She would find Voldemort first and she would kill him. "I don't have time for this!" Ginny snarled. She drew her baton and rushed out of the safety of the line.

She dashed back and forth as she rushed up the stairs avoiding curses. She was very close to the Death Eaters now that blocked her path. They had their wands trained on her. Without knowing or understanding how Ginny swept her hand in front of her and the wands flew from the Death Eaters hands.

They had only a moment of surprise before Ginny was upon them, her baton connecting with heads and knees. In a time period that could only have been seconds a group of twelve Death Eaters lay on the steps, either dead or dieing.

Ginny rushed the last few steps and felt a cold hand wrap around her throat and another around her wrist, crushing the baton from it. Ginny struggled against the grip. Two snake-like black eyes looked into here own.

"I see you have arrived at last," Voldemort said as Ginny struggled against him. "My love."

---

Slowly spells began to thin as the D.A. pressed the attack from both sides. Harry was not sure how long they had been fighting. Each foot they gained on the small remaining group of Death Eaters, who were now holding the only cover area on the beach that defended from both sides, seemed to take hours.

"Has Ron got a plan on this yet!" Harry shouted at Dean who was crouching next to him. A loud crack echoed above them and rock fragments sailed into the air as a spell impacted with the rock they were hiding behind.

"Nothing," Dean shouted back. "Says that they have position on us, maybe if we could apperate into them we might have a chance, but he says it's too risky, that we would lose most of the attack group." Harry nodded. He wasn't ready, nor would he ever be, to start throwing lives away. Harry looked around trying to see some spot that would give them the higher ground. But the slope of the shore went too far back before it started to become steep.

Then it came to him. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought about it before. Well it wasn't that hard to believe, he had only discovered it a few months ago in the Ministry of Magic.

Without another thought Harry transformed into Talon. With focus Talon teleported high into the sky. The Death Eaters had obviously not noticed as no spells shot his way yet.

Talon flapped his wings hovering above the group of Death Eaters. He wasn't sure how many spells he would be able to get off before they noticed him but he was willing to bet it would be enough.

As though his feathered wings were hands Talon began to fire spells down at the group of Death Eaters. It was the magic of his wand. For some reason it permitted him to cast spells even when he was transformed.

It took the Death Eaters moments to find where the attack was coming from but by the time they began to fire spells back up groups of D.A. members had advanced upon them. Talon teleported back to the ground and changed back into Harry.

"What's the status of the castle?" Harry asked, for as he had been in the sky he had seen the flames to remind him that more than one battle was taking place tonight. Dean asked and then listened. Harry was trying to hear Hermione, to listen if she needed help but there was nothing, just the dull pain in his head that seemed to put a buzzing about in his minds eye. Dean's face looked sullen.

"Ron says he can't raise them," Dean said looking worried. "He thinks their extendable ears might have been cut." Harry looked around as D.A. members came towards Harry. He could immediately see that the number of people was far less then they had started with. Quickly, Harry found Neville, he was directing students that had been trained in healing magic as they moved many of the fallen members into the area.

"How bad is it?" Harry asked. Neville looked sullen faced but his voice was steady.

"We count at least two deaths on our side," Neville said. Harry knew that there was the horrible chance that students, friends, Gin… might die tonight. Harry shook the thought from his head. He could not think about Ginny right now, he needed to keep his head or a lot more people could die. "Most of the injuries are minor, suits and shields added some proactive effect."

"Alright, Neville stay. Your top priority is to make sure that everyone who is injured is taken care of." Harry said. Neville nodded. "Everyone who is not injured rally on me, we haven't won yet, but we've hurt em bad." Harry shouted to the to the D.A. members as they began to gather around them. They had started with twelve groups, over 60 people, but Harry counted barely twenty still standing, uninjured. This would have to be enough.

Without wasting another moment they set off around the shore towards the front of the castle.

---

Ron watched on the map as a group broke away from the main attack force and moved towards the castle, Harry at the lead. It couldn't be more than an hour ago that Ginny's and Hermione's groups had entered into the castle and vanished from the map. It seemed that the castle was somehow protected from spying.

Ron wished that Harry would move faster, after all Ginny, his little sister, and Hermione his… Ron's thoughts trailed off as though his mind had almost betrayed him. He wanted to be more than he was with Hermione, but for some reason they kept pushing each other apart.

Ron shook his head. He had played thousands of games of chess and he knew emotions were the most dangerous adversary. If he let his thoughts stray, his attention wonder, he would lose and this was not a chess game this was real! This was too important to Harry to… Hermione… Ron rubbed his eyes as though he was tired and focused back on the map.

The group with Harry was very small. Only about half the size of the Death Eater force that had now pushed its way into the castle. There was still no sign of Vold… Ron felt a pang as he thought the name. How could he be such a cowered to even have such trouble thinking the name?

And then there it was. Right in front of him on the map! Closing fast from behind Harry. A small black dot labeled Voldemort. Ron pulled the extendable ear that connected him to Harry's group.

"HARRY!" Ron shouted into the ear. "ITS VOLDEMORT HE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

---

"What say again?" shouted Dean into the extendable ear.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked losing a few strides to fall next to Dean. Dean shook his head.

"I don't know, Ron was saying something but he just sort of cut out." Dean replied. Suddenly screams erupted behind Harry. With only a moments warning Harry pushed Dean aside and leap away rolling across the ground as the air rippled with magic. The spell left a great gash in the ground.

Harry got to his feet. Many of the D.A. members lay scattered across the beach like rag dolls. Harry's wand was already out. His scar was starting to burn hotter.

Harry felt uncontrollable rage for his friends and the members in the D.A. but looking around he could not spot Voldemort across the devastation.

"Hello, Harry," said a cold voice in his ear. Harry spun away and found Voldemort standing behind him. There was nasty smile across his face. Harry began to shout something but with a flick of his wrist Voldemort sent Harry's wand up into the night. Raising a cold finger Voldemort poked at Harry like as though his finger were a lance. There was a very hard push against Harry's chest and he was forced to the ground. "It is so good to see you again, Harry."

Scrambling to his feet Harry rushed at Voldemort trying to punch him. But his fist hit only the air and he felt the same hard push again in his back as he toppled forward into the sand a second time. Voldemort let out a high pitched laugh.

"Did you think you could defeat me?" Voldemort said in a grinning voice. "Harry, Harry," Harry rolled over to see Voldemort shaking his head down at him. "Our fun is just beginning, I would not dream of letting it end so soon." Harry was breathing hard now, his mind trying to formulate an attack. Suddenly Voldemort looked up. Harry followed the glance reflexively. A second latter a blur crashing into the ground where Voldemort had been standing.

When the cloud of sand had settled Solaris knelt in a small crater his sword sunk halfway into the beach, but Voldemort was not there any longer.

"I do not believe your interference was requested." Voldemort said coldly from behind Harry.

"I have come to end this," Solaris said. Moving quickly he passed over Harry striking at the air. A cold laughter pierced the night. Harry looked around trying to see where Voldemort had vanished off to now. As though he were stepping out from under and invisibility cloak Voldemort appeared in front of Harry again.

"Still angry about the last time we parted ways?" Voldemort said. Solaris did not respond. With a movement so fast Harry could not see it Solaris rushed Voldemort again his blade outstretched. The back of Voldemort's hand stuck the sword and it shattered in Solaris hand. In the same movement Voldemort's other hand rushed up and lifted Solaris from the ground.

"I have had my fun with you, Seraphim," Voldemort said as Solaris clung at Voldemorts hand. Voldemorts wand came up to point at Solaris chest.

"Don't!" Harry cried but as he did he knew it had been the wrong thing to say. Voldemort smiled sadistically and a flash of green erupted for a split instant. Solaris' limp body fall into the sand, his protective wings unable to save him. Rage exploded inside Harry. "I'm going tear you fucking arms of off!" Harry leapt from the sand and this time he made contact with Voldemort. For a moment Harry thought he had won but Voldemorts face told him otherwise.

Harry felt like his body was being crushed as the world darkened around him. Then everything became bright like the sun had risen. Harry's eyes had not adjusted before he felt himself being tossed through the air by magic.

His arm connected with the hard stone floor as he skidded across it into the wall. Harry was sure his left arm must be broken for the pain shooting through it was incredible.

Cradling his arm Harry rolled up to see where he was. It was no longer the beach of Avalon. It was a room, a room Harry had been in before. Harry realized where he was, Arthur's Tomb.

Light was pouring in through the high stained glass windows making it still hard for Harry to see. But he was able to make out the figure of Voldemort and someone else, someone smaller, standing beside him. Harry's breath was ragged in his chest. He felt like he had cracked a rib too and his heart was beating very fast.

"I would like to introduce you to my wife to be," Voldemort said pushing the person next to him forward. "Say hello to Ginny Riddle."

* * *

Authors Notes:

Ewww creepy. Yeah Voldemort is one sick puppy! Haven't figured the part out yet eh?

This chapter isn't going to get my normal love to proof reproof and rereproof and goes up as pretty much a once over scanned document.

I am still kind of put off by what I read in book 6 and have just kind of lost the will to put anymore of myself into writing at this point in time.

All three parts to the ending are going up now. I apologize in advance for grammar or spelking mistakes I might make but I just can't spend anymore time lingering in this story.

Edit: some minor spelking corrections and better rewording have been added mostly because I can't get my mind off this story no matter how much I try. Book six was sort of like the death of a friend, I just can't accept what really happened so I keep looking back to my story.

I am going through and making corrections and additions to the last 3 chapters.


	29. – Prophecy’s End

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil

By: Starwin

* * *

Chapter 29 – Prophecy's End

"You're insane," Harry said his eyes fixed on Voldemort. Ginny stood next to him, her eyes had a glazed look to them. Voldemort smiled as though he was feeding off the emotions that were running through Harry.

"To young you think?" Voldemort asked. "But what is age to an immortal?" He put his arm around Ginny and in the most disgusting act Harry had ever seen, Voldemort kissed her on her lips. As they broke apart Harry could see that her face was still blank and emotionless. Voldemort knelt down next to her and whispered into her ear. "I have something to ask of you, my love." Harry was working to his feet now. Pain was all over his body but the rage gave him power to stand. Harry pulled the baton from his side. "I want you to kill him for me," Voldemort's eyes flicked to the sword that rested on the top of King Arthur's tomb. "With that sword."

Ginny did not argue, did not hesitate. She moved to the sword and pulled it from the hands of the statue that rested atop the tomb. She turned on Harry advancing. Her face still showed no emotion. Harry did not want to fight her. She didn't know what she was doing.

The sword swung between them Harry was just barely able to move out of the way as the next attack swung at him. The baton collided and sparks shot into the air.

"Ginny!" Harry shouted as she attacked again. "You have to stop, you don't want to do this!" But she didn't seem to hear him.

"But she does," Voldemort said. "It has been her dream to kill you. She has shared it with me, her desire for power. And you are all that stands in the way between her and the power I can give her." Harry deflected another attack. Ginny was much better at this kind of fighting him. Harry was also injured and he felt his strength leaving him with each block. He would not be able to keep this up for long.

"I don't believe you!" Harry shouted back at Voldemort. "Why doesn't Ginny say any of this herself?" Ginny's face was still emotionless as she continued to attack. "Why don't you fight me yourself!" Ginny stopped and Harry backed away. She lowered the sword staring at Harry. Her mouth began to move and her voice began to speak but it was not her own.

"But I am fighting you Harry," Ginny said. Harry looked at Voldemort whose lips had been moving too. There was a dark smile on his face. With a quick movement Ginny lunged forward, Harry moved to parry but the tip of the sword sunk into the spot opposite of Harry's heart.

Harry spit blood as he toppled backwards and felt his back hit the stone wall. Ginny did not strike again. She lowered the sword watching him with glazed over eyes. Harry put his hand upon the wound in his chest, blood was flowing freely from it, but there was something else.

Harry could already feel his thoughts beginning to falter. At first he thought that it was part of his robe fluttering out of his wound but he soon realized that it was coming from inside him. It was a black ribbon made of smoke. It was almost like Harry was filled with it like some kind of piñata. Harry tried to push the ribbon back inside him but it found ways to escape around his fingers.

"Yessss," Voldemort hissed. He had moving closer. "At last, that which you have stolen from me will be mine again." Voldemort reached out a hand towards the black ribbon as though he was intending to pull it out of Harry.

There was a flash of silver and a scream. The hand Voldemort had been reaching out with lay in Harry's lap. Blood poured from the stump of Voldemort's arm as he pulled away. A black ribbon fluttered from his wrist just like the one that had come out of Harry's chest. And like Harry no matter how much Voldemort tried to push it back inside him the ribbon continued to find a way out.

Voldemort's eyes feel on Ginny as though seeing her for the first time. Without a moments hesitation her sword flicked through the air and cut Voldemort's head from his shoulders. The body lingered for a moment standing before crashing to the ground and pouring out crimson blood onto the floor.

Ginny turned the blade of Excalibur in her hands and stuck it into the stone floor. The look on her face remained the same as though she wasn't really aware of what she was doing. She moved to Voldemort and bent down over him.

"NO!" Harry shouted realizing that her hand was reaching for the black ribbon that extended from the stump of Voldemort's arm. But it was too late. As her fingers touched it the ribbon erupted outwards. Like a tentacle it wrapped around her arm and up her body shredding her robe as it went and burning itself to her skin.

Ginny stood and turned towards Harry. She was half naked as the black tattoos wrapped along her arm and up her body. The glazed look was gone from her eyes and Harry could see a red glow shinning in them. Her face had become contorted with vengeful anger.

"Ginny," Harry said weakly. She knelt in front of him. Harry tried to knock her hand away but her fingers touched the ribbon. It leapt from Harry's body just like the one from Voldemort had done. The ribbon wrapped around her other arm sinking into the skin, burning a black tattoo.

Ginny stood flexing her hands and looking at the tattoos on her arms. Her eyes pulsed red and the room seemed to become darker around her.

"At last," Ginny said. "Tromedlov is reborn!" Harry reached with the last of his strength for the ethereal connecter that he had hidden around his neck.

---

The colorlessness of the ethereal plane existed for only a moment as Harry leapt from his body. Ginny's eyes had gone wide like she could see him but there was no time to react as Harry dove into her mind.

At first all that Harry could see was darkness then slowly the world came into focus around him. Harry had never been inside Ginny's mind, though she had been inside his on countless occasions, but this place didn't feel like it belonged, it was almost like he was inside someone else's thoughts. There was a long stairway leading up in front of him. A long red strip of carpet led up to a thrown perched high at the top. A man sat in the chair, his eyes glowing red. It was impossible. It could not be who Harry thought it was.

The man stood from his throne and looked down upon Harry. In one hand the man had a long silver chain that trailed around to behind the stone chair. In the other hand he held a sword with a blackened blade.

The man took a step forward, descending down the stairs. He gave a rough pull on the chain and there was a whimper of pain. Ginny emerged. She was naked and her body was badly bruised. The silver chain was wrapped around her neck and held fast with a silver lock. Ginny had her arms crossed awkwardly across her body. The man pulled her along behind him like a dog. Harry felt disgusted and angry.

"Well, Harry," the man said as he walked slowly down the long flight of stairs. "It would seem that you don't know how to die, but I am sure we can fix that."

"You, but… Why? Why are _you_ doing this," Harry said. "You're supposed to be a good man, the greatest of all men. You're King Arthur! Merlin was your closest friend. I don't understand."

"You wouldn't," Arthur said. "Hermione would, she always amazed me. Always knew what you were thinking before you thought it. I would say it was the only thing that ever really frightened me, that she might figure out who I was. But I guess she wasn't smart enough."

"But why you, I thought you were a protector of good, your sword, it was made to destroy evil!" Harry said watching Arthur smile evilly as he moved closer and a sinister laugh escaped his lips. He was not the same man Harry had met before.

"Destroy evil? No," Author said. "Haven't you learned anything, you cannot destroy evil! Excalibur is merrily a key, it unlocks and traps evil inside the wielder. I killed many evil men and one day I woke up dead. I was no longer Arthur Pendragon. I was Tromedlov the greatest evil of all time. Nothing could stand against my power! I commanded the air and the earth to do my bidding. Even Merlin's magic could not stand against me."

Tromedlov stopped on the last step of the stairs looking down at Harry. Ginny stood behind his with sad eyes looking away.

"Let her go, Tromeldov," Harry said looking at the demon standing before him. "I know it's me you really want." There was a booming laugh. Black shadows, like insects began to crawl all over Tromedlov's skin. His red eyes became brighter and brighter.

"You?" Tromedlov's voice sounded like many people laughing now. "Why would I want you when I have an obedient bitch already?" Tromeldov gave a pull upon the chain and Ginny stumbled forward, off the steps and falling onto her hands and knees.

"Merlin thought he could destroy me," Tromeldov said. All of the voices had merged together into a very deep dark voice. "But all he did was make me stronger." Shadows erupted over Arthur's body and the shadow monster that Harry had fought so many times in his dreams stood before him. In its hand was a great black sword, mouth with many jagged teeth opened and closed hungrily upon its hilt.

"For centuries I have sought a way to find that which was hidden from me, the rest of my power. But I could not exist on my own and so I found others to support me, Muggles for the most part. I had to find a wizard that already had great power. A wizard that could help me regain what was trapped in Avalon."

"What was trapped in Avalon?" Harry asked. He had to stall for time. Where was Hermione? 'Come on Hermione, I need your help!' Harry thought.

"Merlin once made the mistake of assuming he could destroy me, but that is impossible." Tromeldov sneered. "When he defeated me again he trapped part of my power in my brother's son, Solaris, and my body was taken to be hidden on Avalon. Without my full power or my body I could not bring myself back as I had before. But soon I found the mind of a muggle to harbor me and I waited.

"Merlin thought he had succeeded in trapping all of me inside Solaris, but part of me remained free. The halves were still connected and from time to time I could hear Solaris' thoughts as he questioned the evil inside himself and the dark things I persuaded him to do. But my effect over him was not absolute. I needed another great wizard to help me retrieve my sword and unlock my power from him.

"But the Order of the Phoenix watched too carefully and I could not make my move. If I returned I risked losing the power I had gained, or worse being imprisoned with the rest of myself.

"And then the order faltered. My control of the muggle named Hitler had not been expected and I saw my chance with the world in chaos to reemerge in Tom Riddle. He had great potential and a thirst for power. But I had made a mistake. His power even at such a young age was incredible. I was overwhelmed for many years I became nothing more than a lost thought in his mind. Much the same as when I encountered you Harry.

"But in the end I began to win him over. His need to control everyone else was so absolute that he did not realize that it was someone else controlling him. He was easily fooled with the promises of the power I could give him. Just like you Harry and just like her." Tromeldov said his eyes falling on Ginny who was still on her hands and knees.

"I embraced his mind, promised him power like he could not dream of. And I showed him the way to Avalon. Solaris and Puck were wary of him though. Puck could see the evil hidden in Riddle's eyes and Solaris could feel my presence. But it would appear that my shadow within Solaris was winning for he did not speak against me.

"It is funny that Voldemort would pick almost exactly the same way to draw my shadow from you as I chose to draw it from Solaris."

"What do you mean," Harry asked confused.

"Excalibur requires a pure heart to wielded, a spell placed on it after my imprisonment to ensure that none like me would ever emerge again, so I needed an innocent. I manipulated a jealous love and persuaded her to attack Solaris for me. My shadow was too much a part of Tom Riddle he could not touch the sword without being destroyed by it. So with a few lies I was able to convince Elsea to do the deed for us, just as I convinced Ginny.

"You're lying," Harry snarled. "Ginny would never do such a thing. You must have been controlling her!" Harry shouted. Ginny looked up at him there was terror in her eyes.

"No, the truth is much more fun." Tromedlov said with a dark laugh. "I promised her power, power enough to make you love her with all your heart. All she had to do was help take the evil out of you. Of course I just neglected to mention the fatal side effect.

"But at last I was whole and I had begun to grow weary of Voldemort. Our power combine would be enough to tear the world asunder with nothing more than a wave of hand. But he had his own plans. I was the one that had given him true dark power and he shunned me. He wasted time with petty ambitions. England was but one country. And I wanted the world, but Voldemort ignored me." Rage was building on Tromedlov's face. "I was voice that was too loud in his head. Near the end I think he became frightened of me for he made a foolish move when he destroyed himself trying to kill you.

"It was on that day that I met you Harry Potter. My shadow has been with you from the day your parents died. Growing inside you, becoming stronger, feeding off your thirst for power and vengeance.

"You fought me, at first. The magical protection placed upon you was very strong. Dumbledore knew what had happened. He is the leader of the Order of the Phoenix and they have been watching for my return for thousands of years. But the old fool thought he could control you, control me. Your anger was so close to the surface but you still fought me, even when I offered you power. I couldn't understand how or why. But slowly I began to find cracks, holes, in which I could escape into your mind. It was incredible. Your thirst for power was absolute. Dumbledore had placed you in a tormented environment all your life.

"How many nights did you consider killing the Dersley's if you got the chance. How many times did we dream together about cutting the fat boy apart to see what made him tick?"

"Shut up!" Harry snarled. He could remember the dreams and the thoughts came before his eyes as though Tromedlov was putting them in his head. "It was all you! I never wanted that I just wanted to protect my friends."

"Yes," Tromedlov said disgusted. "Your friends. They were your weakness and your strength. Voldemort had no friends, no weakness beyond himself. But I must admit they also gave strength I could not understand. For a time I was unable to effect you. But you could not bury me!" Tromedlov shouted angry. "I found a way back, my power was becoming stronger. We had failed to become Slytherins like I had hoped but no matter as a Gryffindor I could hide in the open.

"And then she came into your head." Tromedlov looked down at Ginny. "Something about her gave you calm even though you could not understand, nor could you see what was right in front of you. My tunnels through your mind began to collapse, my power waned and I considered leaving your mind to return to Voldemort. I would be his prisoner but at least my power would be whole. But the connection between you and him was too weak.

"So the only option I had was to destroy her, I manipulated Voldemort and he set things into motion to rid us of her but she survived our power. The journal did not dominate her mind as it should have, her power began intrigued me. She was strong, even without my help. Something neither you nor Voldemort were. And so through your connection to Voldemort I whispered and slowly convinced him to take Ginny into his embrace.

"She resisted. Her power was amazing, limitless. I still had to be cautious, many times Voldemort came too close to the truth. He thought that I was helping him regain his lost power that had been transferred to you. I whispered to him at night and he believed me but he was always weary."

Tromedlov gave a yank on the chain pulling Ginny up onto her knees. "Her power is mine, your power is mine, Voldemort's power is mine. I am stronger than Dumbledore or Merlin. Soon darkness will fall over the earth, you have seen the future. It is absolute."

"No," Harry said drawing his wand. As though bored Tromedlov swept the wand out of Harry's grasp. With one hand he reached out and pulled Harry from the ground.

"Your defiance no longer amuses me. If you were not already dead I would kill you." Tromedlov said still holding Harry. "There is nothing you can do."

"Maybe not," Harry said, "but how about them." Harry nodded behind Tromedlov. Tromedlov looked over his shoulder. Ginny had snatched up Harry's wand and had it pointed at Tromedlov. Hermione had also arrived, she too had her wand trained on Tromedlov.

"You dare defy me!" Tromedlov roared. Both Ginny and Hermione began shouting. Light burst from their wands. Tromedlov brought his arm up covering his eyes hissing. As though he was made of water parts of his arm began to evaporate away into the air in long black streamers, much like the shadowy ribbon that had fluttered from Harry's wounds nor more than minutes ago.

But Tromedlovs grip on Harry did not waver and he was still held Harry fast by the great clawed hand. With a growl he pulled the silver chain very hard. Ginny was pulled to the floor. Harry's wand spun out from her hand. Tromedlov's mouth opened wider then was possible there was a flicker of flam between his teeth then suddenly a burst of energy erupted tossing Hermione against the stairs. Low rumbling laughter echoed from the blackness around them.

"Your attempts are futile," Tromedlov laughed. "You only irritate me. Evil cannot be destroyed. It is intangible, existing in the minds and hearts of every person. Your attacks only make me stronger." Tromedlov turned back to Harry with a push he tossed him from his grip. "I have told you before, the future is absolute. Nothing you can do can stop me. Like time I am eternal. And like time I will kill everything.

"And we have come to the end of your time." Tromedlov said. Reaching behind him he pulled a long black blade from its out from his skin as though it had been hidden inside his body, fire erupted around its blade. Tromedlov's eyes fell upon Hermione lying against the stairs.

"Hermione," Harry shouted, she looked at him groggily. "Get out of here now!" Hermione looked like she wanted to protest. With all his might Harry sent his thoughts at her hoping that she understood, hoping she could hear him. Hermione closed her eyes and faded away.

"Haha, your friend is wise to flee, you should do the same," Tromedlov said turning back to Harry. Harry pushed himself up standing.

"You're nothing more than a parasite," Harry said, "jumping from host to host. You don't have any real power of your own, you just steal it form other people." Tromedlov's lip curled.

"Silence," Tromedlov said, Harry couldn't help but smile. "You no longer amuse me." Tromedlov raised his blade. "I will show you true power." With another yank on the chain Tromedlov pulled Ginny towards him. Her body began to change and by the time she reached his side it was the form of the nightmare, Shadow, that stood at her masters side, bound by the silver chain laced round her neck.

There was a flicker and Tromedlov stood no longer on the ground but sat atop Shadow's back. His long black blade dragged along the floor as he coxed the Nightmare forward, its hoofs of fire leaving burning marks on the ground as she advanced upon Harry.

"Move slave!" shouted Tromedlov he pulled sharply on the silver chain around Shadows neck and kicked hard into her sides. Nostrils flaring Shadow charged at Harry. Harry's reacted, diving out of the way as the blade of fire cut through the spot he had been standing.

Harry rolled up to his feet there was barley enough time to move out of the way again as Tromedlov circled around for another attack. This time Harry was not fast enough this time. He felt the tip of the blade cut across his chest. It was like there was a fire inside him. Harry collapsed to his back in pain.

Harry pressed his hands against his chest, they were stained in blood. This might all be in Ginny's mind, but it felt very real. He had to buy time, had to keep Tromedlov distracted and angry.

With all his might Harry became Talon and rushed at Tromedlov. The huge sword slashed through the air by Talon was not to be in front of it, expecting this attack Talon had teleported above Tromedlov. Talon sunk his talons into Tromedlovs shoulders and lifted him easily into the air. His plan had been to teleport Tromedlov high into the sky but now that Talon had taken hold he found himself unable to will teleportation. The next best thing he could manage was to fling Tromedlov from Shadows back.

Talon hovered before Tromedlov blocking his path back to Shadow. Tromedlov's hand still held fast the silver chain.

"I won't let you have her," Talon said and his voice was not song but words. "Without her you are nothing." Tromedlov held his position.

"Is that your plan? To distract me here and have your friends kill the girl in the real world? It won't work." Tromedlov spat. "I am not distracted. When she arrives I will kill her too. You cannot break the chain of fate with such a petty act. We will be reborn so long as one of us is alive."

"Kill Ginny?" Talon said with a smile in his voice, "Why would I want to do that when all I really needs to do is unlock your anchor to a physical body." Tromedlov's eyes opened wide and his hand shot out to hit Talon away from view. Hermione stood close to Ginny, a white bone key already in the lock holding the chain around Ginny's neck. With a click Hermione pulled the lock free and Ginny untangled the chain from her neck. Ginny let it go tossing the broken tether away.

Harry could see fear in Tromedlov's eyes. He let out a roar and rushed at Ginny and Hermione. Hermione stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Ginny and the two of them vanished. Tromedlov's arms caught air. He turned on Talon.

"I hope you like the ethereal plane," Talon said grinning. "I hear it's very hard to get out of." Tromedlov's face contorted with anger, his red eyes glowing. He opened his arms wide and rushed at Talon. Talon released the ethereal charm and vanished, leaving Tromedlov trapped forever in his own prison of power.

---

Harry stood behind Ginny. She was clutching at his lifeless body. She was crying. The black tattoos had faded from her skin. Harry knelt beside her and touched her face. His hand could not feel her soft skin, nor could she feel him. Harry closed his eyes. He had not gone back to his body which meant he was… dead. Harry took a deep breath but no air filled his lungs.

Suddenly the world froze as though time had stopped. The colorless existence of the ethereal world seemed even more errie in its frozen state. Harry's eyes drifted down to himself laying against the wall, his body's eyes flew open and the head turned upwards to look at him.

"It is your choice to make." Harry's body said, the voice was his own but it seemed distant.

"To live or to die," another voice added. Harry looked to his left to see Solaris emerging from what seemed like thin air.

"To be immortal, like Arthur Pendragon." Harry looked to his right to see the solemn face of Merlin appearing as though he had been hiding in the shadows.

"Or to die, like all humans must do," if Harry's heart could have skipped a beat it would have, this new voice was that of Sirius, he was standing beside Harry's body looking sadly down upon it.

"Death," Harry felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder Harry turned his head around to see James, his father, standing behind him, "is a natural part of life." Harry felt another hand come to rest on his other shoulder. And he heard the voice of his mother, Lilly, in his ears.

"To live forever would take away your humanity." Lilly said.

"I don't understand." Harry said looking at all the people around him. These people they were all dead and yet, here they were, standing around him. Solaris, who Voldemort had murdered not more then an hour ago, Merlin who had died centuries past, his parents and … Sirius. "I'm not dead?"

"Your body has yet to draw its final breath," Sirius said, his eyes turning up so that he could look upon Harry.

"If you return to it before it does, then you will die with it." Solaris said taking a step towards Harry.

"But if you remain where you are, as an ethereal ghost, then you will not die." Merlin said he too moved closer.

"I don't want to die," Harry said roughly, "it isn't fair, we've come too far to lose like this! If there is even a chance that I can live and be with Ginny I'll do anything!"

"But what kind of a life would it be," James said softly from behind him. "would you give up your humanity to simply exist?"

"Would you choose the same path as Arthur," Lilly asked. "To live forever, desiring never to die so that you can protect the ones you hold dear?"

"Yes," Harry said quickly, that was what he wanted, he wanted to stay with Ginny and protect her always.

"And when those you love are gone," Solaris said taking a step closer to Harry. "What then?"

"Will you fashion a new name?" Merlin asked taking another step closer to Harry. "Like Tromedlov? Will all the things you held dear when you were human still mater to you? Or will your hate for those who have what you lost consume you."

"I will never become like Voldemort or Tromedlov!" Harry said angrily, how could these people, his friends, his family even think that he could ever become like that."

"When your humanity is gone all that will remain will be the darkness in your soul." Sirius said darkly.

"Humanity is that which Arthur Pendragon lost, the greatest and most noble man to ever walk the earth," Merlin said taking one final step and coming to stop less then an arms distance away.

"Can you truly say your heart is as pure as his was?" Solaris asked like Merlin he took one final step. "Do you believe that without your humanity you could ward off the hate that dwells inside you?"

"And if I die," Harry said looking back over his shoulder, "will I be with you and Mom?" James and Lilly both lifted their hands from Harry's shoulders and took a step away. Harry turned confused. "Wait, I don't know what to do!"

"It is your choice," James said his form begun to fade.

"It will always be your choice," Lilly said vanishing along side her husband. Harry whirled back around. Sirius, Solaris and Merlin had all vanished.

"The time is now." Harry's body said looking up at him, its hand raised outstretched towards him. "Take my hand and die, or stand there and live and watch me die." Harry licked his lips. His eyes fell on Ginny he moved up behind her and stroked her hair. He could not feel its softness on his finger tips, he could not see its beautiful red color and could not smell its alluring scent. Harry knew in that moment what he must do. His body watched him with an expressionless face, its hand outstretched.

---

Ginny was leaning against Harry's chest crying, praying for him to be okay. Harry stirred and Ginny's heart raced and crashed into her rib cage as a long breath escaped Harry's lips and he slumped backwards against the wall, all life gone from his body.

"No…" Ginny croaked. "No… NO! HARRY PLEASE WAKE UP!" Ginny shouted her fist balled clutching the front of his robes. "I can't lose you." Ginny cried breaking down into tears. Through the blur she was able to extend a hand and touch the side of his face, there was no warmth in his cheeks.

Her voice had left her, should could say no more she could not even beg him to come back to her. Suddenly Harry's cheek became warm, hot! Ginny pulled away her eyes unable to focus. A flash of hot air pushed against her body as flames traveled up the length of Harry's arms. Soon the fire engulfed him completely but his skin did not burn.

Ginny watched unable to move, all of the emotions she had been felling had collided in her chest.

Suddenly the flames grew hotter and more intense. The effect lasted only an instant and when the fire had gone a pile of ash lay in a mound on the floor. Ginny couldn't see anymore, tears flooded her eyes. She fell forward her hands sinking down into it as though expecting to find something, anything. But the pile of ash was nothing more than that.

Ginny's hands still moved through the ash, she would not give up on Harry so easily, he had to be here, had to be some where but there was nothing. It had all been her fault. All the horrible things she had done. Harry was gone because of her.

Ginny pulled her shaking hands from the ash. They were black as night. She whipped the tears from her face leaving a black smug across her nose. She didn't feel anything, it was like she had died too.

A hand rested upon her shoulder and a voice spoke softly to her.

"Come child, all is not lost." The elderly voice said. Ginny had not the will to look up at the man that spoke nor the ability to reply. "Your friends are waiting for you."

---

Ginny found herself outside, though she could not remember how she had gotten there, it didn't seem to matter anyhow. She walked numbly down the beach. Her feet moving on their own. Her legs felt weak but they did not give out below her. She did not know where she was going.

A large group of people were ahead of her now, they were shouting and cheering but though Ginny could hear them she did not. Someone ran out of the crowd towards her. Hands were on Ginny's shoulders and words were in her ears but like all other things around her they did not exist.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione said concerned. Ginny did not look up at Hermione, her eyes unable to hold back the pain any longer. Hermione knew. Ginny's legs finally failed her and she collapsed to the ground emotion pouring out of her eyes. Hermione held her but the pain was too much and the tears would not come.

The cheering faded and the many students became silent as the news spread across the DA that Harry Potter was dead.

---

The next few days were perhaps the worst days of Ginny's life. Many people had died in the battle for Avalon, DA members and Seraphim alike. Though Ginny wanted to feel sadness for the other people that had died her body felt nothing her thoughts dwelling only on Harry.

A funeral was held on the shores of Avalon more then a hundred boats sat ready to be cast out to the ocean. Most were filled with Seraphim, their wings wrapped around them and their weapons clasped in their hands.

Ginny's eyes kept flicking to Harry's boat. It carried his ashes and every moment Ginny kept hopping that Harry would suddenly reappear and tell her everything was okay.

"The cost of life is high." Said a booming voice. A tall man with a white beard and flowing white hair stood before the crowd of Seraphim and Wizards, his name was Oberon. "We have paid that price. We have all lost someone and we must not let there sacrifice be in vain. We must remember those that have fought and died so that we may live. We must never forget those who have died so that they will never be lost." Oberon turned to look out across the ocean. Spreading his hands the clouds parted in the sky and the warm rays of the sun shown down onto the boats, creating a path of golden light across the water.

"Though you're bodies lie still your journeys have not ended. The boats of Avalon shall sail you to a new land. May your travels be swift and the sea calm." Oberon raised his hand and the boats began to move out into the ocean.

Ginny watched not really seeing. Her hand was clasped tightly on the wand in her pocket, Harry's wand. Dean had found it laying on the beach and given it to Ginny. It was the only thing she had left of Harry.

The boats became smaller and soon the glare of the ocean captured the ships and they were gone.

---

Upon the next day the DA left the island of Avalon, guided magically by the boats back to the shore of the lake below the castle of Hogwarts. It was as though they had never left. No teachers asked of their whereabouts. Yet oddly they all seemed to know that Voldemort was gone and that Harry was dead. He was gone, really gone.

The loss only seemed to become worse for Ginny. She found it hard to concentrate on any of her class work. She had also become sick because she felt nauseous sometimes and even throwing up. It felt like the life had been drained form her like nothing mattered anymore.

The air about Hogwarts began to return to normal after a few months. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that Harry was gone. Ginny felt herself getting angry a lot and yelling at people for no reason. How could they disrespect him so much? How could they forget about him so easily? Harry had sacrificed himself for them and they moved on acting like nothing had happened.

One day Malfoy made a snide comment about Harry and that was the end of it for Ginny. She had leapt upon him and beaten Malfoy nearly to death. It had been so bad that he had been sent to St. Mungos for treatment.

Ginny was not disciplined for the act and no points were taken. Even if they had been she no longer cared. Not about school or classes or anything. She felt like she wanted to die. Then she could be with Harry and she could be happy.

As Madam Pomfrey was treating her injuries from the brawl with Malfoy she discovered something else. At first Ginny could not believe what Madam Pomfrey had just told her. It was impossible to say the least. But it all seemed to make a strange kind of sense. Mood swings, the nausea and the extra weight she seemed to have been gaining. Ginny was pregnant.

Magical tests proved inconclusive on pretty much every aspect about what might have happened except that it might have been the result of some kind of magic, but Madam Pomfrey said she had never seen anything like it.

Because she was so young the Madam Pomfrey had had to contact Ginny's parents and tell them. Their reaction had not been as bad as Ginny first thought. Her mom had come and cried with her and her dad had been short on words. However her parents comforts did little to ease her pain.

There was the option of magical abortion still at this point but Ginny had outright refused. If there was even a small chance that some how this was Harry's and her child then she wanted it. She had a reason to continue to live on. And every day was not so dark for her.

For the most part Ginny was able to hide her bulging stomach as she didn't want to tell anyone about this yet. But as it turned out Hermione figured it out on her own and soon almost all the Gryffindor girls new about it. Ginny had thought that they would make fun of her or whisper behind her back, but they did not. Everyone was very nice and very supportive. It was something Ginny needed very much in her life right now, because only in her dreams could she get the affection she needed from Harry.

It was getting harder to stay up late and study with the baby in her tummy moving around. It was like it couldn't wait to get out. But it wasn't uncomfortable it was a reminder that she wasn't alone.

At last O.W.L.S arrived. Some of the examiners gave her strange looks, as though they couldn't believe a fifteen year old was pregnant and still taking her O.W.L.S. For the most part Ginny felt like she had done a good job. But she was glad when it was over.

Finally it was the end of term and Ginny was able to return home. She was not ashamed of herself in the slightest. This baby was the only good thing that had happened to her since Harry's death.

In mid July Ginny gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. But even the medi-wizards were at a loss to explain the strangeness of the new born. For upon his forehead was a lighting shaped scar. Ginny smiled knowingly.

"I knew you would find your way back to me some how, Harry."

* * *

Authors Notes:

And that's all he wrote (well no that's not really true as I have added and subtracted here and there to this chapter at many points beyond its posting) he didn't write no more! Thanks for reading the last installment of Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil.

Thanks to all my readers and reviews who have stuck it out with me even after the release of book 6. As such I have prepared an extra chapter for everyone. It's the first chapter of the next story, which I may or may not actually go and write. LOL you didn't really think this was the end did you? Didn't you read the summery? 'but it isn't the end, its just the beginning!'

Epilog is available on the same day that this chapter goes up. I hope you enjoy it, the epilog was actually one of my favorite chapters to write.

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Some extra notes on the ending.

First and foremost this was all written before the release of book six though I have modified it afterwards (multiple times) and although I cannot say I was not influenced by book 6 I will say that is pretty much the way I always knew the story would end. (as I really didn't want to write a book 7 and I am convinced that Harry will die at the end of book 7)

As people have pointed out to me before this goes live I would like to address some points. First of all even though Harry is reborn through Ginny it has nothing what so ever to do with (and I am aware I keep saying this) religion. If you want to see it that way you can, but that's not how it's intended. The idea had three directions. First is the one we saw, Harry is reborn through Ginny, second Harry is reborn as a little baby in the ashes, third Harry just comes back to life.

The first case I found the best choice. It allowed the question to linger of is Harry really dead? (which of course is yes and no at the same time) It also detracted a bit from the creepiness of the second option (though not by much) in which Ginny was going to take Harry as her adopted son (which I won't even go into the problems with that idea). The third case of just coming back to life seemed a bit weak and there was no real way to support it.

I know some people have found it a little creepy but it comes down to this. All his life Harry has been abused in ways I won't even begin to describe here. I thought that his reward for saving the world should be a second chance at a real life.

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Extended, Extended Authors notes.

As with many of my chapters I have gone back and reworked parts when a better solution has come along, in this case I have reworked the scene of "harry's death" from a much weaker, less senseical (though not by much) version in which (for some reason) Sirius appeared to explain the shit that was going to go down with Harry.

After having some time to think about it, and to be reinspired by having nothing to do well waiting for the goddamn movers to get here, I came up with a minor change in which all people who were important to Harry and who are dead come to guide him. It has a much more final tone to it and (at least I think so) a much better explanation of what is about to happen to Harry and what happened to King Arthur. I have also considered writing the chapters with Ginny up until Harry's (re)birth. However I think I will (unless people really want to know, I think this chapter dose an okay job of explaining it without become wholly depressing and dark) keep that locked in my head for the moment.

For those of my readers who came back to re-read this after the change, thanks for giving this chapter a second shot I hope you liked it this time around.

Starwin

Ultra extended notes.

Yeah that's right more notes! This is I think the ninth time I have come back to work on this chapter, and the last. Though only 3 versions (this being the 3rd) were posted I have made many different copies of it and let people like Alex read them before I posted them. Though he still doesn't care for my ending, and picked many choice words to describe it, non of which I shall repeat, I feel this is more towards what I was aiming at. I would still like to work out better the fight with Tromdlov but, eh, I'm tired and its close enough.


	30. Epilog

Disclaimer:

J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.

* * *

Harry Weasley and the Reflection of Vengeance

By: Starwin

* * *

-Epilog

Harry Weasley was a very special boy, though he did not know it. There were two very important things that made him special. The first was his father, Harry Potter, who had died eleven years ago fighting the dark wizard Voldemort. The second was a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. It was very much the same as the one his father had had and Harry always felt like it connected them to each other, since Harry had never known him.

Harry lived in a house in Diagon Alley with his mother, Ginny. Like many children his age, Harry wanted more than anything to start his attendance at Hogwarts. It was the school both his mother and father had attended. And every night his mother told him stories about the time she had spent at Hogwarts and about Harry's father whom she had loved very much.

Tomorrow would be his eleventh birthday and his mother had promised him a special present. Harry was sure he knew what it was. It was something his mother had been holding for him for a very long time.

Harry stood watching at the door waiting for friends and family to arrive for the party. His uncles Fred and George were the first to arrive to help set up. They ran a very popular joke shop not far from Harry's house and always gave the best presents. Harry liked them very much.

Uncle Ron and Aunt Lavender were next to arrive with their twins James and Sirius who were only a year younger than Harry. They were almost all like brothers as Uncle Ron lived only a few houses away so Harry was able to see his cousins most every day.

Harry's godmother Hermione arrived some place in the middle. She was very smart and Harry liked seeing her very much because he almost never got to. She had become the youngest Headmaster for Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which meant that this year Harry would see a lot more of her. Or as his mother had teased him A LOT more because he was such a troublemaker, much like she was.

More people arrived and Harry greeted all of them. Most were friends of his mother's from school and Harry did not know them very well. One of the men who arrived Harry recognized as the Minister of Magic, Neville Longbottom.

It was the best birthday party Harry had ever had, not to say that any of his previous birthdays had been dull. But this one seemed to be special somehow. He was turning eleven and it was like everyone had showed up for it. The house was packed with people, most of whom were having adult conversations with his mom that Harry found extremely boring.

There were also a lot of people who also seemed very interested in talking to him, telling him how much he looked like his father. Harry was always proud to hear that. He admired his father. He had been a great man. Giving his own life to stop the most evil wizard of all time and save his mom and the world.

Harry didn't know if he could live up to that, but his mom always told him that he was special and that like his father she knew he would do great things. After all he was already a very capable animagus, just like mom. He had been born one and had learned to control his skill at a very young age. His mom never transformed into her animal though. She said that it was because she didn't need to, that Harry was animal enough for the both of them! But Harry had always thought there was another reason.

Harry was also a great flyer on his broomstick. It was true that the Firebolt was an older model broom but this one had belonged to his father and Harry always felt like he was flying alongside his dad whenever he flew.

At last it was time for presents. From his Uncles Fred and George he got a box full of prank items 'to be used for enjoyment at Hogwarts,' the card had read. The minister of magic had gotten him his very own owl, a white snowy owl name Hellia, she was very pretty. There had been many other gifts. One person had even gotten Harry his complete set of school books. However Harry did not get the one gift he had been hoping for. He was a little disappointed but kept his chin up as he bid the guests farewell and thanked them for the gifts. At last only his Uncle Ron, his godmother Hermione and his mom remained. Aunt Lavender had taken the twins home for bed.

"Harry," his mom said. "We have a couple extra gifts for you that we didn't give you at the party because they are very special." Harry felt his eyes light up. His mom sat down beside him with a glowing smile.

"Here you go mate," Ron said handing Harry a very large brown wrapped parcel. "I've figured I've held onto this long enough for you." Harry took the present and pulled the paper off. At first he thought there was nothing inside but then he noticed something shimmering. Reaching down he felt a water-like fabric beneath his fingers. Harry pulled it from the package and found that it was some kind of fabric, but it was invisible!

"It's an invisibility cloak. We used to sneak out all the time in it, uh your father and I," Ron said smiling.

"Thanks," Harry said positively glowing. Ron's ears turned red.

"I am sure I am going to regret giving you this," Hermione said pulling a very thin envelope from her robe and handing it to Harry, "but it's something your father would have wanted you to have." Harry opened the envelope and found a very old piece of paper inside. "Your grandfather made that, and your father used it. It is a map of all of Hogwarts. To use it simply say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good and tap it with your wand."

"Thank you, but I don't have a wand yet," Harry said. His mom put her arm around him.

"Well we will just have to fix that won't we?" his mom smiled. She pulled a very long polished black box from her robe. Harry had seen this box many times sitting on the table in her room. She handed the box to Harry. With shaking hands Harry opened the box. Sitting inside on white cotton was a long black wand, his father's wand.

Harry was at a loss for words he wrapped his arms around his mom hugging her very tightly. She embraced him back.

"Well," Hermione said standing. "I had best be going, I have to go prepare now that I have given our number one troublemaker all the things he will need to make trouble!" Hermione said smiling. Harry stood and hugged her around the waist. His godmother kissed him on the top of the head.

"Yeah I guess I should get home to Lavender before she starts predicting me being in trouble," Ron said his ears going even more red. Ron rubbed Harry on the top of the head. "Well, see you tomorrow mate for your big send off."

---

That night Harry listened to his mothers stories of his father while he held his new wand. Tomorrow he would be going to Hogwarts to follow in his dad's footsteps and he couldn't wait to see what adventures this new life would hold for him.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Hey Guess what everyone? Theres MORE! OMGS! As of last week I began posting the second installment of this... fanfic... yes thats a good term... You can find it by redirecting through my profile or simply looking up the name, "_Harry Weasley and the Reflection of Vengeance_". Enjoy!

This section will be left open to answer any and all questions about the story. If you have still have any questions please leave a review and I will post the answer here as soon as possible.

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In Response to: The Modern Poet

That is true that if nothing remained it would not be immortality. However the scar, his animagus powers and some other things (that would be touched on if this went on) do remain and though Harry is not the same person he was he isn't lost to the void of nothing.

In Response to: Silmarwen1119

Thanks for leaving me so many reviews. I had hopped that more people would do the same but I am left wanting more. I have enjoyed reading your reviews they have given me good insight as well as a laugh or two and a boost of spirit.

You aren't the only one to say the ending is a little creepy and I would have to agree with you, it is pretty creepy in a way. I think it needed a tad more polish, however, I'm done. This story was a massive undertaking and it is unlikely I will pursue any more works of fan fiction.

Again thanks for the reviews they were a most welcome sight in the slim forest of responces.


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